Project Shrine Maiden : Lost Colors
by JustAnotherIndonesianWriter
Summary: An unknown swordsman starts his adventure through the harsh lands of Gensokyo, what will he see? Who will he meet? Will this magician finally reach the answer towards everything? His name is Niji, and this is his story.
1. Prologue

_Hyah!_

A rainbow colored circle suddenly lighted up from the ground as a figure raised his left hand, an in cue, a light flickers and a card summoned out of nowhere. Energy can be felt rushing in the area as the card slowly descended down to the palm of his left hand. The standing figure was left in silence, as if focusing on something ... And something powerful. The card finally touched his left hand, and the circle at his feet started to draw an image, one that resembles the Legendary Arcanum insignia, the words _'Arcus Iris ; Spectro ; Crux ; Septem Colorum'_ are written at the edges of the circle.

The standing figure is revealed to be a young man, he had an dark azure colored hair, pale skin, he's ... "fairly tall", and was wearing a dark blue colored unbuttoned vest, with a white shirt underneath, and an almost grey-white colored cape that was tied to his back was seen flailing due to the massive energy surge, he's also waring a dark blue colored trousers, and matched with a dark azure colored sneakers. He had two sword sheaths sticking out, one in his waist and one in his right shoulder, and his left shoulder, a small metallic ... thing, that resembles a kite or some sort, with smaller green blades attached to it.

"**... Spell Card!**" He declared, the card in his left palm started to glow even brighter as those words left his mouth. the surrounding area was engulfed by a spectrum colored light the figure finally opened his eyes, as the bearer of a rare disease called Heterochromia Iridium, the color of his two eyes are different from each other. But what makes his eyes unique, are the multiple colors that are currently present in his two eyes. His left eye bore the colors : **Red, Orange, Yellow**. His right eye bore the colors : **Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet**.

He took a deep breath, and for once, everything suddenly fell silent. Not even his powers and his breaths made a noise. He gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes as he activates the card. "**Prism Sign!**" He yelled as he crushed the card with his left hand, the surge of energy started to form a mini tornado made of light. He lets out a before continuing. "**[ Spectrum Cross ] ! ! !**" He opened his left hand and a wave of light came out from it.

The surrounding area exploded.

* * *

**Project Shrine Maiden : Lost Colors  
**

**Prologue  
**

* * *

A loud hiss accompanied by a cloud of dust surrounds the area. The young man was seen gingerly walking out of the crater he made. The swordsman coughed several times and brushed the dust off his body. He wore an irritated look on his face, and he sheaths the two blades he's holding. He slumped forward to the ground with now a tired look on his face. He seems to be out of breath but his teeth kept gritting on each other.

"Not ... Not yet!" He grumbled as he forced himself to get up, only to be stopped by a hand. "Eh ...?"

He looked up to see a muscular middle aged man, he wore a old Japanese themed white Hakama with dark blue colored pants, he carried 2 swords at the sheaths at his waist, his spiky black hair waved slightly as a cold wind swept through the area, the man gave him a scolding glare, in which the younger swordsman only looked down and hide his eyes with his bangs.

"Ta-Takao-sama ..." The young man stated in a nearly inaudible manner.

The use of the honorific made the older man shook his head. He chuckled with a slightly amused tone as he looked down to the shorter boy. "Niji ..." He began. "I already told you, you don't have to call me with that honorific anymore. You already joined the order of the 'Seven Swordsmen' 2 years ago. You're one of us now."

The young man shook his head. "Just because I joined the order doesn't mean that I should treat the other six much more experienced swordsmen than me at the same level as I am, Takao-san."

"But your skills are almost on par with your father, which was much more stronger than all six of us combined." The elder replied.

He just grunted at the mention of his father. "What do you mean by that?" He growled. "I'm a failure. I mean, just look at me, I can't even activate my own Spell Card! I tried touching it, cutting it, and even tried to absorb its energy and assimilate it into mine, but the skill just cancels out." He complained loudly.

"Niji ... You already mastered all of your father's Swordplay, created your own Sabers, and even mastered the Danmaku basics including its flight techniques by the age of 16. Truly an accomplishment for such a young age." The old man shook his head again.

"But I'm a _MAGICIAN. A 'YOUKAI CLASS' MAGICIAN_ to be exact, and I can't even activate my father's simplest Spell Card, I mean, the **[Spectrum Cross]** was supposed to be an easy Spell, but for some reason, It just won't activate for me." The young man huffed.

"Being a Magician doesn't obligate you to master a Spell on your age, right?"

The young swordsman fell silent. "... Then ... What should I do?"

The elder chuckled lightly. "That ... Is for you to answer for yourself." He then walked into the small temple, located near the training field. "Come now, dinner's ready." At that cue, the young man's stomach growled loudly.

As much as he hate to admit it, he's hungry. He's been training all day and haven't ate anything since morning. With a low sigh he walked into the temple himself.

* * *

A few minutes later, the two are seen sitting before a small table enjoying the meal. Their swords are now placed inside the armory.

"So, tomorrow ..." The young man began, but he hesitated.

"Yes, you will set off and follow the trail of the other 5 Swordsmen. You will go on a Pilgrimage, and explore the vast lands of Gensokyo." The elder completed his sentence for the younger Swordsman.

"Are you sure that I'm ready for this, Takao-san?"

"Of course you are, Niji!" He replied. "The other 5 Swordsmen also started to explore this land at your age. I only stayed here to guard the temple at my own choice."

"B-but ... As I said before, I can't even activate my own spell card and my Danmaku skills aren't that great. Wh-what if I meet another lesser youkai and-"

The elder puts a hand into the young man's shoulder. "You're ready." With that word, the young man fell silent again, he stared to the floor and seems to be frowning. "You're a _Human-Youkai hybrid,_ even the dumbest of lesser youkais will not touch you. They eat humans, yes, but not their own kind."

The young man clicked his tongue. "Don't ever state my genetic information ever again." He growled.

The elder just gave him a father's smile and ruffles the young man's hair. "Go, prepare your weapons. You're going to need them more than anything when you're exploring Gensokyo." He pointed to the doorway that leads to the armory.

Without any reply whatsoever, the young man stood up and left the dining room.

The old man sighed loudly when the young swordsman was out of sight. "I've never thought your son would be such a pain to raise, Rai." He chuckled with a wise tone. "But then again ... I didn't think he would become a fine young man like this. Your son is really a one-of-a-kind."

* * *

The next day, the young man and the elder are seen at the temple's outer ground. The young man seems to be kneeling, and he already got his full arsenal with him.

"Niji Heika, today, you will set off to this wild untamed land, Gensokyo. Before you leave the shrine grounds, please accept the blessing of the Holy Swords." The elder spoke in a ceremonious manner.

"I accept the blessing." the young man in turn replied back to him.

"Now then, **Niji Heika, The Spectral Swordsman**, also known as the **Sword of Seven** in our ranks, and the son of Fuuka Heika." He declared. "Go, go and carry the honor and glory of the 'Seven Swordsmen' with you to Gensokyo!"

The young man stood up slowly. "I thank you for all of your teachings and hospitality, Takao-sama." Niji bowed down. "I hope that we can see each other again in the near future ... Of course, still in good terms."

"And the same to you, young Sword of Seven."

Niji turned his back to face the gate. A bright green colored light began to emit from his back and eventually made an faint silhouette of wings, a great amount of energy began to condense around him as a loud noise started to sound off. "Takao-sama?" Niji asked with his back still turned from the elder.

"Yes?"

"If mom stops by ... _Tell her I said hi_."

And with that the Swordsman launched himself forward to the sky a loud booming and deafening sound was produced as he reached sonic-boom speeds and finally broke the sound barrier, leaving only trails of light and a bit of smoke behind.

"I will." The Sword of One walked back to the temple with a satisfied smile.

* * *

_Just what do you have to offer me, Gensokyo?_

* * *

**End of Prologue**

* * *

**Author's Notes**

So ... I've decided to delete my old story the 'Spectral Skies' and 'Gensokyo High' series. I'm sorry for everyone who's currently enjoying the story right now, I appreciate the follows and reviews but I thought that It'll be just too much of a problem for me to keep writing the series. So, I came up with this shorter series instead. I kept the prologue short and kept the details in the dark because I don't feel like revealing all of them in like one chapter.

So ... Human-Youkai hybrid. I don't know if that genetic type exists in the world of Gensokyo, but then again, it's already a work of fiction, who knows ... (Credits go to ZUN for bringing us this awesome series, though). and Magician-Swordsman ... I also don't know if that term is acceptable, but hey, there's Youmu. I guess ... that'll be acceptable ... right? ... right?

Don't kill me.

He's wearing the clothes similar to Youmu, except it's blue and his vest is unbuttoned, and he's wearing trousers instead of skirt ... Obviously? Now, about the 'Kite' thing on his left shoulder, it's a ... 'dock' for the smaller blades I mentioned. If you want to know what it looks like, search for Gundam 00 Quanta and look over to its left shoulder, you'll see the thing similar to it.

Rainbow colored eyes, because just having a normal Heterochromia disease is too mainstream.

All the unfamiliar words done here (especially with the language) are translated ... Roughly ... With Google Translate.

Don't kill me.

This is just the prologue, guys, so this chapter will be exceptionally shorter. I assure you that the next chapters will be longer and satisfying than this one, though. Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed the prologue and I also hope that you guys will enjoy the story that I'll be writing soon.

Thanks for reading, Traesto!

*TITLE EDIT, now using one of Code Geass's trademark name for their PS2 and PSP game, 'Lost Colors'. I just thought that it'll sound more badass. Of course, All of the credit belongs to Code Geass for the name, and ZUN for the Touhou Franchise. I do not own their work.


	2. A Rough First Day

A light flickers from the sky and a figure is seen speeding towards the Earth's surface at high speed.

***BOOM!***

A relatively large explosion occurred sending dusts, woods, and dirt alike flying all across the area. Zooming into the point of impact, a certain swordsman is seen getting up from his knee, he brushed the dusts off his shirt and vest and scanned the area. He made quite a small crater. Slowly, the light began to disappear from his back and he puts his cape up to cover most parts of his torso. He took a quick glance and quickly realized that he ended up in the Forest of Magic.

"I should really lay off on doing the 'Dramatic Entry' which I grew quite fond of." Niji sighed as he flew off from the crater he caused.

Gensokyo ... A land of fantasies ... Where magic rules, the land where youkai and humans alike can live together in understanding thanks to the Spell Card system, and of course, the Great Hakurei Border that stands tall for hundreds of years. That border separates this world from a place known as 'the Outside World'. Of course, humans from the outside won't take this place likely, if that border were to be broken, then everyone could only imagine the worst to happen. A fairly peaceful place. Of course, there'll be some Danmaku battle going on now and then, but still, A pretty place.

"Let's see what you have in store for me ... Gensokyo." The swordsman muttered to himself as he speeds off into the distance again.

* * *

**Project Shrine Maiden : Lost Colors**

**Chapter One : A Rough First Day**

* * *

Niji later found himself just flying with a low velocity over the skies of the Forest of Magic.

"Let's see ... I could go to the Human Village." He said to no one. "But then again, I doubt they'll accept me there ... My appearance is already weird to begin with." He sighed with a defeated tone. "I could make a makeshift camp ... Oh what am I saying, I didn't being any materials needed to even start a fire!" He shook his head at the thought. "I could ... Visit the Hakurei Shrine ..." He pondered at the thought. "But from what I've heard ... The miko isn't very ... friendly to outsiders ... Especially myself."

He kept slowing down for some reason.

"I could rent a place to stay here at the forest ..." Niji then facepalmed. "It's a _FOREST_, Niji, there'll be absolutely zero tavern. And you don't even have money, why are you even thinking like that?!" He yelled in frustration. "But seriously, I need some place to stay ... It won't be funny if the next morning's headlines titled 'Sword of Seven Died of Exhaustion'." He continued. "Great, now I'm talking to myself ... What's wrong with me?"

He stopped completely and landed on the ground instead. The swordsman decided to walk through the forest.

"I wonder ..." He muttered as he scanned the area for any civilization. Although he felt like he was being watched from somewhere ... And by someone. He turned his head around to his back to found no one. "Huh ... Must be imagining things." The swordsman shrugged his shoulders and hummed as he continued on.

Much to the swordsman's dismay, the clouds suddenly took their turn for the worst. It's looking ominous out there. And Niji couldn't do anything about it. And just a few minutes later, it started raining. Niji was forced to take shelter under a large tree, although it didn't stop the rainwater from hitting his azure colored hair. The young man sighs loudly as he lean his back against the trunk of the tree.

"Seriously ..." He muttered in irritation. A few seconds, his stomach started to growl. "Damn it. I should've at least eat my breakfast before I left." He cursed silently. "Tch ... Rough first day, huh ..." He clicked his tongue in irritation, and he just continued to walk on with the thought of staying underneath a tall tree during a rain is a bad idea ... Well, walking without an umbrella in a hard rain isn't a bright idea either, but he's taking the risk anyway.

He lets the rainwater to seep into his clothes, and wet his equipments, his once messy azure hair are now dropped down, straight, because of the amount of water that managed to get his hair wet. He didn't like it, but he continued on anyway. Tired and exhausted, he was about to take the last course of action, go into the Human Village, but that thought was quickly stopped when he saw a small house at a distance.

"Bingo." He clicked his fingers lightly as he made his way slowly to the tan colored house.

The half-Youkai-half-Human managed to get to the house, he peeked through the window to see that no one is present in the living room. He was furtunate enough that the front door offers a small canopy, though. He sighed, and touched his forehead, a small fever breaking up. He sneezed once ... Twice ... Thrice, but he kept his already pale body unmoved from the door.

"It sucks to be a half Human ... You can still get badly sick and hungry ..." He muttered, but quickly shook his head in anger. "But I'm not calling myself a Youkai either. I refuse to be called a Youkai." He sighed. "I'm just a normal human with an increased life-span ... That's all ... That's all." The swordsman reassured himself ... In which he dismissed the thought quickly. "Oh what am I kidding ..." Niji sighed sadly.

He sat down, leaning his back against the wooden door, He sneezed again, the fever getting the best of him. "Tch ... This is what I get on my first day of Pilgrimage journey, huh?" He put a hand up to his head, a sudden dizziness struck up. He knocked on the door once, no answer. "Hello? Anyone in there?" He asked out loud with a sore voice. Still no response. He turned his gaze back to the far horizons and saw that the rain began to die down.

The once dark skies now clearing up, a bit of sun began to warm the land back up to life. Birds began to chirp softly and a cool wind started to blow from the east. The once hard rain now toned down just to a bit of sprinkle. Niji kept his eyes fixated on one thing that managed to form up on the eastern horizons. A rainbow. Similar to the color of his eyes, his name, and his title, the seven colored curve magically spread itself through the land of Gensokyo, lightening up the Forest of Magic. It's a calming scene, really, especially for a Spectral Human-Youkai.

The dizziness managed to get the best of him, though, his vision slightly blurred. He put a hand up to his head. Massive thumps are spreading through his head, as if trying to split it open. "Gah!" He winced, he slumped backwards, his back slamming the wooden door in the process. "Ouch!" He shouted out loud.

As his vision continued to blur out, something made his eye turn for a second. A doll. A floating doll ... Flied to him and waved a hand at him, as if trying to check if he's alright. Unfortunately for the swordsman, before he managed to reply to the cute little thing before him, everything went completely dark and the Magician lost his consciousness. The doll went to a state of panic as she(it?) pats the swordsman repeatedly. Not about a few seconds later, the wooden door opens up, revealing a figure.

* * *

A warm ray of sun pierced through the window and through the closed eyelids of a certain blue haired swordsman. "Ngh ...?" He grunted softly as he forced his rainbow colored eyes open. He performed a quick scan of the area, he found himself lying on a small bed. The room he's currently staying was painted in light tan, with barely any furnishing, just a table and a chair beside the window, a few cushions, a few dolls and finally the bed he's currently laying at. The headache quickly returns as he finally finished his small sightseeing through the small room. "Tch ..." He winced quietly.

Then the door creaked open. The swordsman turned his gaze to it, and in cue, a small doll ... flies into the room. The doll had a long blonde hair and clear blue eyes, she(it) also had this red ribbon tied on her hair and she wears a long black dress with a white apron. She looked over to the half-Human and smiled at him. With an analyzing gaze, Niji could tell that the doll is really well done, not only he almost can't see any stitch marks left on the doll, she could even ... Change her expressions, for some reason.

"Um ... Hello there." Niji awkwardly greeted the doll, in which the doll gave him a cute smile and also an energetic wave. The swordsman only smiled back at the doll in response.

A few seconds later, a figure knocked on the door. "Um ... Come in?" The swordsman sat upright on the bed, and made sure that his bangs aren't obstructing his field of vision. At the cue, a girl with a shoulder length and straight blonde hair walked in. She had a pair of crystalline clear blue eyes, A pink hairband is tied on her hair, she's wearing a light blue dress with long white sleeves and a long pink ribbon going round her neck and another one round her waist. She is also seen wearing black boots.

"Ah ... I see that you're awake now." The girl calmly states. "How are you feeling?" She asked as she retracts the doll to her side.

Niji shook his head once. "Well, I've been better." He answered while holding his head. "Where am I?"

"You're at my house at the Forest of Magic." She answered.

"So ... The house that I saw ..."

"Yes ... That ... Or rather this, is my house. You're currently at the guest room."

Realizing that his fever had died down just by a bit, he tried to get up from the bed, only to get the sudden dizziness back to his head. "Ngh ..." The swordsman flinched.

"You shouldn't move too much." The girl crossed her arms.

"Well ... As much as I hate to admit it, you're right." Niji joked in defeat. "How long have I been out?"

"Almost a day, perhaps."

The Human-Youkai only sighed. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience I've caused."

"No, It's fine, really. In fact, I should be the one that said sorry. When you knocked on the door, I was half-asleep, so I decided to ignore it." The girl looked away apologetically. Niji only gave her a wave with his left hand, signalling her that it's okay. "Anyway, where are you from? I've never actually seen you before." She asked with a bit of curiosity.

"Well ..." Niji hesitated. "I'm not from around here, you see. I'm on my Pilgrimage Journey, sent by my temple to gather knowledge and wisdom here at Gensokyo." He explained slowly. "I say it's about time for us to get properly acquainted, yes? My name's Niji Heika, Spectral Swordsman, also known as the Sword of Seven in the ranks of the 'Seven Swordsmen'." He introduced himself while holding out a hand.

The girl looked mildly surprised. "'Seven Swordsmen' ..." She muttered. "Well, my name's **Alice Margatroid, The Seven Colored Puppeteer**. It's pleasure to meet you, Heika-san." She shook the swordsman's hand.

"I do believe there's a similarity in both of our titles, Margatroid-san." Niji hummed to himself in an amused manner. "You can call me by my first name, though. I believe my surname sounds like a girl when someone said it."

Alice chuckled lightly. "As you wish then, Niji-san. You can also call me by my first name too, everyone usually gets tongue tied saying my last name."

"Really now?" The Swordsman replied with a lighthearted tone ... Speaking of Swordsman ... Swords ... Man ... Swords. "Wait ... My Seven Swords!" His rainbow colored eyes widened immediately when he realized that he's not carrying his belongings anymore, he began to panic, earning a somewhat amused look from the Puppeteer.

"You don't have to worry about it, Niji-san." She began. "Your belongings are in the store room of this house."

The azure haired magician seemed to calm down when he heard it. "Really? Well ... That's a relief." He sighed. "Holy Cr-" He cuts himself off abruptly. "Sorry, I don't know how to thank you for this, Alice-san. I don't know what'll happen to me if I lose my father's swords."

Finally, with the permission of the Puppeteer, the Swordsman made his way through the house to grab his belongings. He took a note that the house is filled with ... Sentient Dolls. Most of them are doing the houseworks such as cleaning, cooking, and even sewing. He grabbed his personal courier bag that he usually slung over his left shoulder, his swords and made his way to the living room of the house. There, he finds Alice just quietly reading a large book or rather a tome.

The swordsman silently sat on a wooden chair and puts himself on a pouting stance. "So ..." He spoke up, gaining the attention from the Puppeteer. "These dolls ... Are they really sentient?" He asked as he poked a passing doll, in which the doll just crossed her arms ... In a cute manner, though, and she looked away with an angry look.

"Oh ... Uhm ..." Alice hesitated. "They're not really alive ... I'm just controlling them with my magic." She explained as she puts a hand on the table. "Do you see the rings on my hand? I used them to control the dolls via a mind connecting magic wire."

"Hm ..." Niji hummed lightly. "That's interesting ... Yes, interesting indeed." He stated as he continued to poke the doll in front of him.

"The one in front of you is called Shanghai. Come on now, Shanghai, don't be rude to our guest." At the given order, the doll uncrossed her arms and gave the Half-Human a small smile, in return the Swordsman smiled back to the doll as well, although Alice's reaction was a bit ... Unnerving, she gave a sad sigh. "It must be weird huh, interacting with the doll you control ... It's like talking to yourself."

"Hmm? Well, if you think that's weird, you just haven't seen me talking to my other 5 swords." Niji scratched the back of his head with a bit of hesitation. "I don't think so, Alice-san. I actually thought that these dolls are really sentient, heck, I still think they are even if you told me that you were the one who controlled them, they're just so ... Alive." He absentmindedly continued to poke on Shanghai.

"Oh ... Really? Well um ... Thank you." She seems to be surprised to hear the reaction from the Swordsman.

Niji was quick to take an interest on the book the Puppeteer is currently holding. "So ... That tome, what's in it?"

"Hmm? Oh this?" She pointed a finger at the book, in which the Half-Youkai nodded in confirmation. "It's a spell book, I'm just reviewing the cards stored in it. Not that I'll use them in an actual Danmaku battle, though." She explained. "Most of the cards here are already sealed due to their massive strength and I refrained from using them. I only use this book in the case of an emergency."

"So, you're a Magician, then?" Niji was mildly surprised when the realization hits him on the head.

Alice nodded. "You seem to be surprised, is something the matter, Niji-san?"

"Well, you see, I'm a Magician myself." He pulled a smaller book from his pouch, the book almost looked like a notepad or some sort. This statement earned him an equally surprised look from the Puppeteer. "I just find it surprising to find another Magician that lives here in Gensokyo. I heard it's already rare enough to see a living magician."

"Well, in that case, I can say that it's also mildly surprising to find another Magician. I only know a very few other Magician that roams in Gensokyo." She then pointed a finger at his smaller book. "Well, what about your book? Does it also contain Spell Cards?"

"That's correct." Niji nodded. "Well, most of it are my Father's. I'm still learning most of them. I got a few cards on my own but they're not actually strong and useful enough in Danmaku Battles. I can't also shot multiple projectiles at once too, you see. I usually handle my opponents in close range fights with my swords, but for long range battles, I can send in an energy beam from these two swords my father gave me." He patted on the swords at his shoulder and his waist.

"Hmm, interesting indeed." Alice closed her book. "Mind if I take a look at your book?"

"Of course not, Alice-san. Here." Niji handed the small book over to her. "Help yourself out."

The blonde nodded and took the small book. She began to read it page per page. Getting further in, she went to a state of surprised and amused. "These Spell Cards ... I've never actually seen them before. Some of them looked ... Ancient, although powerful as well."

"Those things are really hard to master. Even for a Youkai-Class Magician such as myself." He sighed. "I can't even activate the Spell Card that my father created. It took him less than a day to both Create, Activate, and Master it. While it took me years just to understand the complex Card."

"Hmm ..." Alice hummed and then she returned the book over to Niji. "All of these things are new for me as well. I don't exactly possess the knowledge to understand such Complex Cards like these, I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, Alice-san. I have the feeling that I'll find the answer to these cards if I just keep training hard."

Alice seems to be pondering at the thought. "Well ... But I do know someone who can help you to at least understand these Cards. I can take you to her ... If you don't mind that is." She suggested.

"Of course I don't mind. But isn't this troubling for you, Alice-san?" Niji hesitated.

"Hmm? Of course not, I need to go to her as well. I might need to borrow some of her books for my research, don't worry, she's a fellow Magician, I'm sure that you'll get acquainted with her fairly easily." She stood up and took her tome with her.

"Well then, I guess, it's a green light from you as well. Lead the way, Alice-san." The swordsman grabbed his grey cloak from the hanger near the door and he puts it on, after making sure that most of his torso are covered in gray, he walks out of the door with his Equipments in hand. The sun is still low at the eastern skies, signalling that morning just came. He lets the cool breeze to hit his body, and then he took a deep breath. With his mind now cleared and his headache now dying down bit by bit he waited for the Puppeteer to walk out of her house.

"Ready to go then, Niji-san?" Asked the blonde as she locked the door, Shanghai at her side.

"I am. Lead the way, Alice-san." He gestured to the clear blue skies.

With the given confirmation, the doll maker started to float and fly away, following closely behind her is the Sword of Seven.

* * *

They made their way through the forest and quickly to a large lake. A large structure is rather obstructed by the thick mist over at the ground. Niji just shrugged it off and thought it as a morning mist or something. The flied at a comfortably slow speed. Giving Niji a chance to properly know the surrounding area. The Swordsman also looked astonished at the sight of the land. He seems satisfied just to look at the sight.

"This here's the **Misty Lake**." Alice explained. "That large building over there is the **Scarlet Devil Mansion**, and that's what where heading right now."

"I see." Niji only gave a nod.

A few minutes later, the two landed before the large building. True to its name, it does look like a Mansion ... Well, more like a castle if you ask the currently impressed Swordsman. He took a quick scan of the area. The mansion was big enough to fit his temple and maybe even more. He wondered how someone built this place.

"Well, here we are." Alice turned to see the Sword of Seven behind her.

"This place ... It's massive." He muttered.

The Puppeteer chuckled lightly. "A typical reaction."

The two began to walk to the front gate of the mansion. There, stood a tall young woman (Taller than the two Magicians, which they stood at the same height) with a long scarlet hair. Her green beret and dress resemble traditional Chinese clothing. Her beret has a gold star on the front with an old Traditional Chinese writing on it. She appears to have noticed the two visitors.

"Ah, hello there ... Alice-san, right?" She greeted her in a friendly manner. "And I see you also brought in a friend?"

"Morning, Meiling-san. Yes, he's here with me because of a certain business we need to take care of." Alice politely replied to the woman.

"Niji Heika, Spectral Swordsman and a member of the Seven Swordsmen. A pleasure to meet you ... uh ... What was your name?" The half-Human asked.

"**Hong Meiling, Colorful Rainbow Gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion**." She introduced herself in a polite manner, yet a tone of pride is inserted. "The pleasure's all mine, Niji-san."

Niji began to think that everyone had similar _-color-_ titles here at Gensokyo. He nodded back to her.

"Is Patchouli-san currently available?" Alice asked, with the question directed to the Gatekeeper.

"I suppose, she's probably at the Voile Library right now." Meiling nodded at the question.

Alice then gave a nod back to the Gatekeeper. "Splendid. Now, if you'll follow me, Niji-san. We should be able to-" Her words were cutoff by a sudden hand, blocking the entrance to the Mansion.

"I didn't say that you two could enter this place." Meiling began with a serious tone.

"Meiling-san, please stand down." The Puppeteer sighed. "We're only here to borrow some books from her."

"I could only tell you her location, but not actually let you inside." Replied the Gatekeeper.

"Then what do you suggest, Meiling-san?" Alice asked still with a calm tone.

At the cue, A light flickers in her hand and A card is summoned. "_**Danmaku.**_" Meiling replied, swinging her Spell Card around the two. "Tell you what, if you win this match, I'll let both of you into the Mansion, but if you lose, you can't. Simple as that." A confident grin forming up on her face as she entered a fighting stance.

Alice sighed. "Well, if that's what you want ..." She summoned a few more dolls at her side, armed with swords, spears, lances, and even drills, toned down to fit their size. "Then ... Shall we begi-"

"Alice-san." Niji called out. "I think you should be the referee for this one. I'll take care of this." He walked up.

The Puppeteer tilted her head. "Niji-san?" She asked. "Are you sure?"

"Very. I suppose it's about time I face an actual opponent rather than flying sticks during my training." He opens his gray colored cloak, revealing the sheaths of his swords inside, as well as the blue colored mechanism over his left shoulder. A rainbow colored circle began to appear from the ground, revealing the Legendary Arcanum's Insignia.

"Very well." The blonde took a step back, letting the Swordsman to take her place.

"Feeling confident are you, Niji-san?" Meiling asked, still with a confident grin on her face.

"Meiling-san ..." He pulled the two swords from their sheaths and held one each in his hand. "... _I have self-esteem and social-anxiety issues_." He stated with a straight face.

Energy began to charge up at the two. Alice calmly stood between them. Shanghai is seen cheering for the Swordsman.

"**Danmaku Match : Hong Meiling versus Niji Heika. 5 hits, 1 Spell Card. Infinite Time Limit.**" Alice declared.

"A word of warning ... I'm not going to hold back, Niji-san." The Gatekeeper called out from the distance.

Niji shook his head and he swung his swords once at the air. "I'm not usually the type of guy who likes to hit girls." He muttered in an irritated tone. "But ..." He paused. "I'm not holding back either." He declared calmly.

The Puppeteer gave the two a quick glance. She took one deep breath. "**Begin.**"

With that, the two participants charged in at a neck breaking speed.

* * *

**End of Chapter One**

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Here's Chapter One, guys!

So, after a better understanding of the world of Touhou, I've finally decided to do this story. I've been thinking about how should this story start, but after a while, I decided to let the lovely Alice Margatroid to take the honor of being the first character being introduced in this story. I've been thinking about the Myouren Temple, The Scarlet Devil Mansion, the Human Village, and of course, the Hakurei Shrine, but Alice's Alice. Sorry folks.

Don't kill me.

Maybe I should explain the traits of being a Human-Youkai-Hybrid. Being one is like living your life like any normal Human would. One could get sick, hungry, tired, and etc, just like any Humans would feel in their daily lives - Youkais won't usually feel these humanly traits. The obvious difference is of course the increased Life-Span of the gene carrier. As a Youkai-Class Magician, one could also perform a series of powerful Danmakus as Alice and Patchouli would do.

About I mentioned how Niji would be able to 'talk' to his 5 other swords, you'll see them later in the future chapters. I've also prepared a series of Spell Cards ready for him, although just by a little amount. I might need your help (Yes, you guys, the readers.) in the future if I'm getting stuck on getting more ideas of Spell Cards.

That's about it I guess. Next chapter will probably have a little bit of Danmaku fight in it. So wait for it, aye?

Thanks for reading, guys. I hope you enjoyed the story. Traesto!


	3. The Scarlet Devil Mansion

"Sorry, but in close quarters combat, I have the advantage!" A certain red haired gatekeeper grinned as she throws a punch over to the Swordsman in front of her.

Niji tilted his head, the punch barely grazing his head. He didn't reply whatsoever. He swung the blade on his right hand, of course on its blunt end, so it won't cut Meiling down in just a swipe. Noticing this, her left elbow suddenly glowed in a light scarlet color, she used her Qi in order to block the attack. She noticed that the Sword of Seven was only using the blunt end.

"I thought you're not going to hold back, Niji-san!" She continued as she swiped her right leg, already powered with her Qi up to him. The Swordsman dodged her attack again, albeit barely. Niji backed himself, making a distance between the two. "You know, you're going to do better than that to beat me!"

"I'm not into hitting girls ..." The Swordsman sighed. He then noticed that Meiling was holding her hands up to him. She was going to fire her Danmaku projectiles. Niji readied himself and as expected, a colorful wave of bullets were heading at his direction at high speeds. He flied away from the projectiles only to see more projectiles being fired. A large bright red orb is readied at Meiling's hand. She threw the orb to the Swordsman.

Realizing that this one's unavoidable, Niji prepares both of his swords. He slashed the orb with his two swords. Alice gave an impressed look from down below as she spectates the fight above her.

"So, his swords can even cut down Danmaku projectiles ... Interesting ..." The Puppeteer stated out loud.

"Not bad ... Not bad at all, Niji-san!" Meiling said from the distance with an impressed tone. "But, I'm afraid this is where it ends." She summoned a card out of thin air.

Alice looked mildly surprised when she saw the card. "Oh no ..." She muttered in concern. "She's using THAT card?"

Niji mentally prepared a Spell Card in his mind. Sheathing his left sword, he could only prepare himself for Meiling's next move. "This is gonna get rough ..." He muttered. "Let's just hope this Spell Card actually works."

"**Spell Card!**" Meiling declared, the card in her hands glowed brighter as she activates it. "**Colorful Sign - Extreme Color Typhoon!**" She yelled out loud, and in cue, hundreds of orbs appeared by her side, in which each orbs had a different color. She sent them all flying. To just one target, Niji. The Swordsman's eyes widened as he saw more orbs started to appear, replacing the ones that're currently headed straight for him.

"_Ke ..._" He used his panic catchphrase. Seeing that he can't dodge about a thousand Danmaku projectile tying to hit his face, he only floated there with a concentrated look on his face. He closed his eyes and time seemed to froze. He took one deep breath before a light flickers above his head.

A Spectrum-colored circle appeared below him. "**Spell Card!**" He declared, as he summoned his own Card. '_I need to time the activation right ... Too soon, and Meiling-san will realize what I'm trying to do ... Too late, and I'm done for._' He thought as he narrowed his eyes. The Card finally landed on his left palm. The almost unlimited amount of bullets were closing into their target ...

***BOOM!***

* * *

**Project Shrine Maiden : Lost Colors**

**Chapter Two : The Scarlet Devil Mansion**

* * *

Wave after wave after wave after wave of Danmaku projectiles slammed into their objectives, Niji, at high speed, sending colorful explosions and a little bit of shockwave as well as a cloud of dust into the air. Charged colorful ions are still visible leaving from the cloud of dust. The effect caused by the Spell Card was not to be taken lightly. Even Alice could feel the tremor from down below. She glanced over to the cloud of dust and back to Meiling.

"She was not playing around after all ..." Alice muttered quietly, as she held her book even tighter, unsure on what'll happen to her newfound guest.

Meiling turned her face to Alice. "Well, Alice-san ..." She began in a mock-victorious tone. "Looks like we already have a winne-"

"_... Katsu!_" A single straight blue beam came out from the cloud of smoke, starling both the Gatekeeper and the Puppeteer. Having caught off guard, the beam managed to hit the unsuspecting Meiling, sending her flying out of control for a few seconds before finally regaining her balance. There was a slight burnt mark at her shoulder.

Alice squinted her eyes to see a figure flying out of the smoke.

Niji, with his two swords in hand, and 7 Spectrum colored circles at his side, all of them bore the Legendary Arcanum's Insignia. "**Sign of the Arcanum - Seven Rings of Manipulation!**" He declared the name of the card he just used, although his voice sounded a little bit sore and out of breath. Looks like the card used up a lot of his power.

"First hit registered by Niji Heika." Alice stated, with Shanghai kept cheering on the Human-Youkai.

"He ... He survived the attack ..." Meiling said in a somewhat disbelieving tone. "Tch ..." She tutted lightly and shot more Danmaku projectiles at him, although this time a bit fewer, looks like her last attack also used up a lot of her power.

"**Manipulation - Priwen Shield Layers!**" Niji yelled, at the command, the Spectrum colored circles materialized themselves and formed 7 rows in front of the Swordsman, from the smallest to the biggest in a respective manner. The Danmaku managed to hit their targets but it was blocked by the most outer layer. No hits were actually registered to its master.

"Tch, so he used those rings as a dense shield, huh?" Meiling clicked her tongue. "That's why he managed to survive that attack."

"A Seven layered shield ..." Alice quietly said to no one.

"_My turn!_" The Swordsman raised his two swords and points them at the Gatekeeper, he tilted the hilt of the swords by 45 degrees, and energy began to charge up at the tip of the blade. He gave a slight jolt to his right hand and a blue beam was fired from the tip of the blade. Noticing this, Meiling flied away in high speed to evade the shot, only to see another shot coming straight for her face.

"Second hit registered by Niji Heika."

"Ah!" Meiling yelled in slight pain. "What accuracy ... He managed to hit me from that distance ... And I'm even moving at my fastest speed ...!"

Niji was panting heavily ... "I'm still not used to this Card ..." He complained mentally. "But ..." He fired another shot from his blades.

Hits were quickly registered at Meiling's body, leaving slight burnt marks over her green dress and beret.

"Third and fourth hit registered by Niji Heika."

Niji raised his swords and aimed them at the Gatekeeper, who's already flying out of control at this point. "**Manipulation - Genesis Magnifier!**" He commanded, at the seven circles rematerialized themselves again and formed rows in front of the Swordsman, this time from the biggest to the smallest. He took one deep breath. "**RELEASE!**" He fired a beam towards the circles.

After passing each circles, the beam became more and more condensed, after the last circle was passed through, the beam's force was literally magnified by 7 times. The straight beam heads for the Gatekeeper, and ...

"Ugu!" Meiling winced as the beam grazed her sides, it didn't hit her, but the force created was enough to sent her plummeting to the ground below. The beam kept flying until it hits the ground, and a large explosion occurred. Niji forced himself to dive down at full speed, and he managed to catch the red haired Gatekeeper before she hits the ground. She was unconscious.

The seven circles of light immediately disappears from the sights.

"**Match Over, Winner by : Knockout, Niji Heika.**" Alice formed a faint smile, and Shanghai popped out a confetti ... Wait what?

"Holy Cr-" Niji stopped himself abruptly again. _'No swearing ...'_ He punched himself mentally. "Oh dear ..." He corrected himself as he set the Gatekeeper down beside the gate, he then slumped forward, knees first to the stone floors, he was panting heavily.

He kept his gaze unmoving from the ground until he saw a hand reached out for him. "Niji-san." He looked up to see a certain Seven-Colored Puppeteer. "Are you alright?"

He then realized that the headache is coming back. "I've been better ..." He took her hand with his left hand, while his right hand was softly pounding at his forehead. "_Ke ..._" He winced slightly. After standing up and finally straighten himself up, the two looked over to the opened gate of the mansion.

"Looks like she kept her part of the bargain ..." Alice chuckled lightly. "Shall we?" She walked into the mansion first.

Niji pulled his cloak up again. He nodded. "Yeah ..." He replied, still with some slight poundings inside his head.

* * *

The two Magicians welcomed themselves into the Mansion. Of course, the Swordsman was left amazed by the size of the interior. Red carpet linings with sparkling checkered floors underneath, many old centuries's furnishings are seen inside, giving out an elegant and somewhat eerie theme to it, considered most of them looked a bit ... Creepy. Alice was walking at a comfortably slow pace, while Niji kept his glance all around the place to scan the area.

"So, about that Spell Card, is it yours?" The Puppeteer broke the silence between the two.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah." Niji replied back. "It's one of the first Spell Cards that I made during my training."

"Care to explain the properties for me, Niji-san?"

"Of course." The Swordsman nodded, although with a bit hesitation. "Well ... This certain Spell Card allows me to summon those 7 Rings of light in which I can use them to boost my attack or act a shield for defense. The size of the rings usually varies, from small to big and etc. The rings holds a maximum charge of 3 uses, so if I used them up, the Spell Card will finally dismiss itself. But ... As you can see, the main drawback of using that Card is the power usage. It drains a considerably good amount of your strength." He explained.

"Certainly interesting." Alice pouted as she walks slowly. "I've also noticed that you're using the word '_Ke_' just very recently ... Why's that?"

The Swordsman scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Oh ... Well ... Uhm, my mom usually said those weird stuffs, it's kinda ... Passed down to me. You'll find me saying more weirder words that '_Ke_' ... Seriously."

The blonde Magician only chuckled lightly. "You know, you do remind me of my friend ..."

They met several fairy maids. The flying servants are dressed in blue dress as well as a white apron over it. The fairies only smiled respectfully to them, not stopping to talk whatsoever. The two responded by returning the smile, albeit smaller, back to the maids. The two kept on walking through the area of the mansion.

"Ah, I didn't think that we'll be expecting a visitor today, especially at such an early time." A voice called out to them, making the two Magicians turned their gaze to their back. They saw a silver haired young woman, with two braids at her sides, she had this silver-blue eyes, she was wearing the usual maid outfit, which is a dark blue dress with a white apron on top of it. A respectful smile on her face. "What brings you here, Alice-san? It's rare for you to visit this mansion." She asked.

"Ah, Izayoi-san ..." Alice replied with her usual calm voice. "I'm thinking about borrowing some books from Patchouli-san. Is she currently available at the library?"

The maid gave them an uncertain look.

"Don't worry, we're not like Marisa." Alice was quick to respond to the look on the maid's face.

"In that case, yes. She is available at the Voile Library, now." The silver haired woman noticed the gray-blue Swordsman that's currently keeping his mouth shut. "Oh, and who is there over here? Is he your friend?"

"Well ... Sort of. He's also here to discuss something with Patchouli-san." The Puppeteer answered.

Niji took a step forward and gave a hand. "Niji Heika, Spectral Swordsman, a pleasure to meet you."

"**Sakuya Izayoi, Head Maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion**, a pleased to meet you too, Niji-san." She shook the hand lightly. "I suppose I'll escort you two to the Voile Library, since most of the houseworks were already done by the other fairy maids ... Now, if you two please follow me ..."

The two Magicians looked at each other for a second and shrugged, they followed Sakuya to the Voile Library.

* * *

Books ... Books ... A ten-story high book shelf ... More books.

"Oh dear ..." Niji exhaled. Taken aback by the size of the great library before him. The place is filled with ... Books ... That's about it.

"Welcome to the **Voile Library**." Sakuya stated, gesturing a hand to the two guests. "Now, if you'll excuse me ..." The color of her eyes went red, and in an instant ... She vanished.

"... _Mogu_." That single word escaped from Niji's mouth, his rainbow colored eyes widened. "Oh ... Oh dear." He stammered. "What just happened?"

Alice gave a simple amused look. "_Mogu_?" She chuckled lightly. "That was Izayoi-san's ability, the power to manipulate time."

"Manipulating time ...?"

"That's correct. It's even said that she used her other power, the power to also manipulate space, to manipulate the size of this Mansio-"

The two heard a humming sound, they turned their faces to search for the source of the voice. As the tone grows louder, Niji noticed that the Puppeteer beside him has paled a bit. He almost tried to ask what's wrong, when Alice raised a hand, signaling him to keep his mouth shut, the Swordsman complied with a drop of a cold sweat.

Much to Alice's dismay, when they're about to take their turn around the corner of a towering bookshelf, a figure spotted them.

"Ah! White-Blue-nee-san!" A voice called out to them. Alice went paler than before, Shanghai can be seen shaking visibly, her face turned to a bit of fear. Niji turned his back to look at the source of the voice. He saw a young looking girl, with a short blonde hair, a ponytail is tied to her side, she had deep crimson colored eyes, she's wearing a pink mob cap at her head, she also wore a red vest with a yellow colored neckerchief above a light pink short sleeved shirt. Her red skirt stands just above her knees. There's this ... Wings ... Made of crystal shards attached on her back, but what made the Swordsman almost reached for his swords are the fangs sticking out of mouth.

She's a Vampire.

"F-Flandre-kun." Niji could swore that he heard the usually stoic Puppeteer stutters.

The Vampire flies closer to the two, in which Alice took a step back, and Niji took a step forward, as if trying to shield the Puppeteer. Her red eyes glowed in interest. "White-Blue-nee, is he a drink?" She asked innocently while pointing to the Swordsman.

"... _Ke_." Niji whimpered.

Alice noticed that the Swordsman is standing in front of her, his hands almost reaching for his swords. "Um ... No, Flandre-kun. He's a ... friend of mine, and we're here to see Patchouli-san." She tried to defuse the situation. "... He's not a drink."

The girl only flied closer to the Swordsman, with a thoughtful expression, she examined him. "Hmm ..." She hummed. "You don't smell like a drink." She sniffed lightly. "Are you ... A Youkai?"

The Swordsman frowned immediately. "Not necessarily ..." He replied with a somewhat irritated manner.

"Then what are you, Blue-Gray-nii? You don't smell like a drink, but you're not a Youkai." The girl asked again with a curious tone.

"..." Niji opened his mouth to speak yet came out. "I'm ... I'm just me. Niji Heika, the Spectral Swordsman."

Her eyes glittered. "Gray-Blue onii-san is an interesting person! I'm **Flandre Scarlet, Sister of the Scarlet Devil**!" She introduced herself in an energetic manner.

"N-nice to meet you, Flandre-kun."

"Are you two going to play with me?" Flandre asked yet again.

Alice shook her head. "Sorry, but no, as I said before, we're here to meet Patchouli-san."

"Aww, but I'm bored!"

Niji gulped his fears. "Don't worry, Flandre-kun, next time when I'm here, I promise that I'll play with you."

Her eyes sparkled again. "Really? You mean that, Gray-Blue onii-san?"

The Swordsman hesitated for a bit. "Well ... Of course, I can't see why not!"

"Yay~!" Flandre yelled happily. "Promise's a Promise, okay Onii-san?"

"Yeah, Promise's a Promise." He smiled sadly as he replied back to her with a bit of a weak tone, leaving Alice with her doll to look t him with a bit of concern.

* * *

Flandre flied away just about a minute ago, and the two Magicians continued their walk to meet this 'Patchouli.'

"Are you alright, Alice-san?" The Swordsman suddenly asked.

Alice only sighed lightly. "I think I should be the one who asked that question, Niji-san. Are you alright?"

"Yeah ... I'm fine." He replied with that weak tone again. "But what's with this Flandre?"

"Well ... She's still like an innocent child, so her personality is a bit ... Twisted to say the least." Alice explained with a noticeable amount of hesitation in her voice. "Well, you see, she has the ability to ... Destroy ... Like destroy everything, I suggest you to treat carefully around her."

"I kinda feel sorry for her ..." Niji muttered just above his breath.

"Personally, I also feel sorry for her. She hadn't left the Mansion for 495 years."

The Swordsman and the Puppeteer sighed. About a few minutes later, they finally arrived at the center part of the library.

"Alice-san ... It's been a while." Another calm voice called out to them from the side. Alice only turned her face slightly to her right while Niji had to step forward since Alice's blocking his field of view. There's this ... Girl ... Her hair and eyes are purple, and has many ribbons tied to her hair and other body parts. She wears pajama-like clothing and a night-cap. "What brings you here?"

"Patchouli-san ... It's been a while indeed." Alice replied as she walked over to the purple haired girl, following close behind her is Niji. "Well, I'm only here to borrow some books, if you don't mind that ... Don't worry I'm not like Marisa, I'll return them in week's time." She paused before looking over to the young man beside her. "But, there's someone here that I'd like to introduce to you." She gestured to the doll, and Shanghai started to pull the Swordssman closer to them. Niji had a skeptical look on his face.

The girl, which he assumed to be the librarian is looking at him with an interested look. "Uhm ... Hi, my name's Niji Heika, Spectral Swordsman, pleased to meet you." He bowed slightly. "I heard that you could provide me with some help regarding the knowledge of magic."

The librarian examined the Gray-Blue clad Human-Youkai for a few seconds with her purple colored eyes. "The pleasure's mine, Niji-san. My name's **Patchouli Knowledge, The Unmoving Great Library**." She introduced herself.

"I brought him here because I thought that you could provide him with some assistance regarding the knowledge of Spell Cards." Alice explained.

Patchouli raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" She asked, before shifting her gaze back to the Swordsman. He is seen browsing through some books. She then saw the insignia on his cloak's back. "Wait ... That emblem ..." She looked mildly surprised. "Um, Niji-san." She called out.

"Yes, Patchouli-san?" The Swordsman turned his face back to the Librarian.

Patchouli stood up. "Could you come with me for a second?" She gestured her hand to the exit. "Alice-san, you can help yourself with my books for the time being."

Alice only gave a nod, but with a curious expression on her face as well.

* * *

Patchouli and Niji arrived at a large room that was meant for studies. Not a class, but more like a huge lab.

"Welcome to my Study Room." The Librarian stated as she sat before her table, and gestured one of her hands to the nearby chair. "Please take a seat."

The Swordsman nodded lightly and takes a sit.

"So ... That emblem on your back ..." She began.

"This cloak? It was my dad's." Niji put his cloak off, revealing the sign of the Legendary Arcanum behind it.

Patchouli looked surprised. "That's the insignia of the Legendary Arcanum, right? I read about them once."

"Hmm? Yeah, what about it?"

The Librarian examined the gray cloak. "And from what I've heard, there's only ... Don't tell me ..."

"..." Niji suddenly fell silent.

"... You're a Wizar-"

"No." The Swordsman simply replied with an irritated tone. "That guy ... _**He's my dad**_."

Silence. Not an awkward one, but an uneasy one. Patchouli had an expression of grief and guilt. While Niji had a cold and distant look on his face.

"Then ... You're the son of the only Wizard-class Magician in Gensokyo?" Patchouli broke the silence.

The half Youkai only looked away. "Yeah."

"... L-let's just set those things aside for now." The Librarian rested her hands on the table. "I suppose you'll need help of understanding something, correct?"

The young man nodded. "Yeah ... About this." He pulled his small Spell pad and puts it on the table for the Librarian to see it. "Can you help me with this ...?"

Patchouli took the Spell book to her hands and began to browse through its contents. Her eyes went wide. "These Spells ... They are specifically made for a Wizard-class magician." She stated.

"Most of it are my dad's." Niji explained. "Could you like ... Help me with them?"

"Most of its contents are heavily ciphered for now, I could only make out some of the names and the image." The purple haired Magician shook her head. "It'll take some time to decrypt it." She paused for a moment. "Forgive me for asking, but are you also a Wizar-"

"I'm a Youkai-class Magician ... I'm not as strong as my dad." Came the reply.

Patchouli pouted. "I see ... Well, for now you wouldn't mind I keep the Spell book with me, yes?"

"I can't see why not. Knock yourself out, Patchouli-san." Niji gave a low wave.

The Librarian looked puzzled. "Excuse me?"

The Swordsman realized that he just used an urban term. "Um ... It means 'help yourself out', Patchouli-san." He replied with a bit of nervousness. "I see that modern urban terms aren't exactly familiar here, huh?"

"I'm afraid not. You can expect some of the contents of this book are deciphered in a week's time, don't expect much, though. Some of the words written in here are ancient." Patchouli said with her calm tone again. "I'll start working on them now."

"I'll leave you to your work then, Thanks for the help, Patchouli-san." Niji gave a faint smile.

"No problem. It also extends my knowledge in magic, so I don't see a reason why should I refuse." The Librarian smiled back. "Also ... You can tell Alice that she can return my books whenever."

Niji nodded and took her silence as his time to go out of her room and back to the library.

* * *

When he got back to the library, Alice was sitting quietly at a table, 3 books in hand, although she didn't read them, and just ... Played with Shanghai, although she wore a somewhat concerned look on her face. Shanghai's expression was cheery as usual.

"Sorry. I took too long, huh?" Niji called out, gaining the attention of the Puppeteer and her doll.

"Not really ... I just sat down a minute ago, anyways." She replied with her usual stoic tone. "So, have you finished doing your business with the Librarian as well?" She stood up, grabbing the books with her.

"I suppose, it'll take some time for her to decipher the Spell Book, though." The Swordsman put his cloak back on. "She said you can return the books whenever."

"I see, then I think it's about time that we take our leave. It's already past mid-day outside right about now."

The blue haired Magician nodded and the two made their way out of the mansion.

* * *

The flight back to the Puppeteer's house was ... A bit unpleasant? It would be nice if Niji was not looking so sad. For some reason, ever since the two left the mansion, he hasn't spoke a thing at all. Alice had a look on her face that says 'What's wrong with him?' but she dared herself not to ask what's wrong. Probably it could make things even harder for him.

The two arrived back at Alice's house just before dusk. Alice had already started to make her other dolls to the houseworks. Niji just puts his cloak away and his weapons down. He sits at the far chair that's facing the window. Alice did her best to pay no mind to the Swordsman. She only thought that he would need some time alone after he made some things clear with Patchouli.

She paused for a moment to see that his sad Dark-Azure colored eyes that's filled with troubles staring into nothing.

"It's pretty rude to stare, you know." Niji deadpanned.

Alice realized she had been staring at him the whole time. "Oh, please forgive me. I just went lost in thought for a moment." She looked away and replied with her usual calm tone, although she looked pretty embarrassed for some reason. But she found herself staring into him again. For some reason, those Azure eyes are filled with mysteries.

Wait ... AZURE EYES?

"Um ... Niji-san?" Alice asked out loud. "What's wrong with the color of your irises?"

Niji rubbed his eyes and blinked once. "What's wrong with them?" He asked back, strangely, after he blinks, the rainbow color returned to his eyes, as if the sudden change of colors never happened.

"Oh ... Uhm ... Nothing. Nevermind, sorry for bothering you." She could swear that his left eye was colored in deep Azure, though.

"Uh ... No, don't apologize, please." The Swordsman shook his head lightly.

Time quickly passed, the Swordsman helped himself with the prepared food on the table, Alice just heads to her room, saying that she should get some research done. Since it's already late, the Puppeteer advised him to stay at her house for one more night, although refusing at first, Niji was finally convinced. It would be weird if the Human Village had a certain blue haired and rainbow eyed young man armed with Seven Swords entering their gates at this time of the day.

He was about to enter his room when he saw a door slightly opened, with light coming out from it. His curiosity got the best of him and the half-Human decided to peek inside the room. What he saw was a bedroom. There's a table, a few cushion, a bookshelf, a few dolls, and of course, a bed. Although something or rather someone is out of place. Alice Margatroid is seen sleeping on her chair with her head rested on the table.

Niji dared himself to enter the room. Upon closer inspection, she's really asleep. With a quick scan, the Swordsman could tell that she's researching about magic. Niji was about to leave her alone, but somehow his feet won't move. A part of him said that he shouldn't disturb her in case she wakes up, but the other half said that 'a girl shouldn't sleep at her desk'. With a loud sigh he turned back, and placed a hand on the Puppeteer's shoulder.

"Alice-san?" Niji shook her lightly to wake her up. The only reply that came from her mouth was soft mumbles that he couldn't make out. "I'm really doing this, aren't I?" He asked himself.

He grabbed the blonde Magician and carried her to the bed. He tucked her slowly and carefully, not wanting to wake her up. After making sure that she was in a comfortable position, Niji walked back to the door. "G'Night." He simply said with a nearly inaudible manner. And with that, he heads back into the guest room to retire for the night.

Little did he know that after a few minutes, the door creaked open, revealing Shanghai with a warm smile on her face, meanwhile Alice just looked at the ceiling from her bed with a somewhat embarrassed look on her face, but a small smile on her lips.

"_I guess I owe him a 'Thank You'._"

* * *

**End of Chapter Two**

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Chapter Two of my kinda prototype story.

I guess ... Personally I think the battle scene kinda sucked. Every other fight scene I made also sucked badly. So don't kill me.

So our two Magicians have met the residents of the SDM, excluding Remilia ... for a good reason, of course. In this chapter, I made some things clear of Niji's past. I wouldn't spoil all of them, but I've left hints during the drone of this chapter so you guys might figure something out in the later chapters. I don't really have much of an inspiration lately so this chapter might've looked suck. so sorry.

About the Wizard class Magician, it's the type of Magician, in which it's the strongest of them all, surpassing Natural-class and Youkai-class. They control magic with masterful skills.

Well, that's it, I guess, I hope you guys enjoyed the story so far. Thanks for reading, Traesto.


	4. Of Mages and Villages

A warm ray of sun managed to pierce through the windows of a certain Puppeteer's house. The Swordsman's rainbow eyes fluttered open. He took a deep breath before actually waking up. He realized that it was already late in the morning. The half-Youkai sighed, he was never really a morning person. Realizing that he won't be leaving the house just yet, he decided to not wear his blue vest. He opened the door and made his way to the living room. As expected, most of the dolls are already at work.

He opened the door that led him to the main living room of the house. As expected, there's the furniture ... Books ... Dolls ... Alice?

"_... K-Ke ..._" Niji stammered out, with his rainbows colored eyes slightly widened, and his mouth slightly tilted.

Alice was sitting there quietly, reading a book. But she's wearing something different. Her usual pink hairband is replaced with a small blue ribbon, she wore a light blue sleeveless shirt that matched the color of her crystalline blue eyes, and a knee length skirt. She appears to be ... More alive for some reason. It's the first time that Niji saw her in her informal clothes.

The Puppeteer noticed the half-Human's presence, she turned to face him. "Good morning, Niji-san." She greeted with a small smile.

"..." Was the reply that came from his mouth, his expression was still neutral, but it looked like he was ... Petrified or something.

"Niji-san?" Alice asked again.

"E-e-excuse m-m-me ..." Niji replied back to her with a trembling voice, he did a 180 spin and closed the door again. After making sure that he was out of hearing distance, he banged his head on the wall repeatedly with only a _slight_ embarrassed look on his face. "God dammit ..." He manipulated the color of his face to regain his pale complexion back, and after making sure that his stupidity won't take over again, he opened the door again.

Still to see Alice with a slight confused look on her face.

"Is everything alright?" She asked.

"..." There he goes again. "E-e-excuse m-m-me ..."

Loud bangs are heard from he bathroom several seconds later.

* * *

**Project Shrine Maiden : Lost Colors**

**Chapter Three : Of Mages and Villages**

* * *

Niji is now sitting at the a small chair with a bandaged head. Alice is in front of him with a confused look on her face.

"Are you sure that you're alright, Niji-san?" Alice asked with a concerned tone. "I heard some banging sounds from the bathroom just a few minutes ago."

The Swordsman shook his head. "I'm ... I'm fine ... uhm, thanks for asking." He cringes a bit as he touched his head.

"... Uhm ... Okay, then." She replied, still with a bit of a confused face.

Niji found himself staring into the window, with his brilliant rainbow colored eyes reflecting the oncoming light. His mirror like irises are more like a pair of crystal shards in his eyes. Something is strange and mysterious about him. He's cold and warm at once, he's serious and calm but maybe a bit rough sometimes, as if he had two personalities in one body.

Alice couldn't help but feel curious about the young man in front of her. A Magician that attached himself to swordplay, an member of an Arcanum. Don't get her wrong, see has seen many Arcanum groups throughout her simple life, but seeing a fellow Magician like him is ... Rare. He's not like the others, that Insignia visible on his shirt's collar is pretty unique. Not only that, he talks like someone that came from another world. His easy going and the use of urban terms in his speech is supporting it. Although he did say that he came from a certain temple ... He-

"Alice-san, you're staring at me again." Niji spoke up, snapping the Puppeteer back to reality.

"Huh?" She shook her head once ... Wait, there it is again. His left eye is colored in a deep Azure color. Instead of going into a state of confusion as before, the Puppeteer calmed herself down and took this chance to analyze both of his eyes. His left eye, which is colored in just a single color, Azure, possess a deep and striking feature. It's like it's trying to pierce through your bones just by staring at it. Although, despite its features, there's this ... Warmth radiating from the deep blue iris, as if giving out a fatherly aura. While his right eye, is colored in Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet, had much softer and friendly features, but, then again, it's also shows an aura of coldness as well as reserved for some reason. this is usual eye. Two different eyes, as in indicating two Personas in one simple form.

"Alice-san?" He asked again with a more confused tone.

"..." She kept her silence.

The Swordsman got the wrong idea, and he just grabbed the blonde girl's shoulders ...

"E-eh ..?" Alice suddenly got wide-eyed. "N-Niji-san ..? What are you doin-"

... and just shook her wildly.

"Alice-san?! Are you alright?!"

*SLAP*

A second later, the Swordsman is sitting outside the house, with his weapons, cloak, and vest still inside.

* * *

"Oh dear, what did I just do?" He asked himself while holding his left cheek. "Alice-san sure got a strong hand." He groaned.

He waited. Waited. Waited.

"I owe her an apology." The half-Human said with a uneasy tone. "I wonder what mom'll do if she saw this." He chuckled to himself as he made the statement, but it immediately turned grim. "I wonder what dad'll say ... If he's even alive." He muttered with a sad and depressed tone. "I wonder what my life'll look like if he's here." He cringes again as he touched his bandaged head. "I wonder what he looks like ..."

_'They only said that he was a great Magician that roams the Gensokyan Skies. A Wizard-class Magician ... Most of his cards that're hard to master are created by him in less than a day. Some even said that one of his Last Word saved Gensokyo from a destruction a long time ago. I don't actually believe what they said ... But seeing that he's a member or possibly even the leader of the group called the 'Legendary Arcanum' ... Honestly, I don't even know what's in that group or the fact that I'm ACTUALLY in the group or not. To be frank, I don't even know why am I spouting Urban Terms so often, it's like I'm speaking in a completely different language ... What did I do to deserve such knowledge about the outside world on my own? Well, I've only been alive for less than a hundred years, and my mental age is similar to one Human on his teen age, but I think I knew well enough that ...'_

"... I just wanna see him, dammit." That sentence escaped from Niji's mouth, he buried his face in his hands in frustration.

Who would've thought? From a simple thought, it escalated into a conflict strong enough to make his head hurts.

The front door creaked open, and a pair of crystalline blue eyes showed up.

"..." Alice watched silently, her face full of thought.

"..." Niji raised his head. "I suppose there's a reason that you opened the door, Alice-san ..." He stated without turning his head to face the Puppeteer. He didn't need to do it, anyway.

A silence sets in.

"I ..." The blonde girl hesitated. "... I suppose you can go grab your gears. I want to show you to the Human Village. Might as well as look for a fixed place to stay for you and to gather some supplies."

Niji stood up and entered the house. He stopped at the side of the Puppeteer. "I'm sorry." He said simply.

"..." Was the reply given by the Magician. After he was out of hearing range, she only muttered. "_I'm sorry too._"

* * *

The two are now in their formal clothing, Alice was seen carrying her tome, and Niji with his cloak as well as the blue mechanism on his left shoulder. They're in flight to the sanctuary where Humans lived, the Human Village, in all of its glory. This time, their journey was much more unpleasant than before. Being the two felt uneasy just even to look at each other. But they kept their usual stoic personality showed, not wanting to show any kind of emotion.

The two landed before a big gate, which Niji assumed was the entrance to the Human Village. They are quick to gather attention, being flying into the village instead of walking, or riding in horses, and Niji's swords and cloak, his Azure colored hair and of course his rainbow eyes, as well as Alice's doll aren't compensating for it. They could feel uneasy stared planted at them. Some even started to talk about them.

"It's the Puppeteer ..."  
"Who's that man?"  
"What's wrong with his back?"  
"That person covered in grey looks dangerous."  
"... Youkai ..."

And the chatter continues on. The Swordsman's calm and collected personality was able kept his emotions at a minimum, although Alice was visibly showing her uneasy thoughts for the blue haired Magician to see.

"Alice-san." A cold voice reached for their ears, making the two calm Youkai-class Magician to spin their heads around to see who's calling out.

What Niji saw was a young woman, probably older than their ... Human age (although maybe the same mental age, seeing the two Magicians have lived long enough), she had brown eyes and long silver hair. She wears a hat that looks like some kind of building with a red ribbon on top and glyphs inscribed along its side. Her dress is dark blue with white short sleeves, and a red ribbon is tied to the bottom of the collar. She wore a calm yet serious expression on her face, but her stance showed that she was alarmed.

"Keine-san." Alice replied simply.

"What are you doing here? It's rare to see you up here in the Human Village." The blue clad woman asked, before shifting her gaze to the Gray-Blue Swordsman beside the Puppeteer. "It's even rarer for you to bring someone along. Why is that?"

"I'm showing this traveler right here to the Village, you see."

The silver haired woman didn't retract her alarmed stance. "Oh? Is he your friend then?"

"More or less."

"I see ... But I can't see why are you bringing a Youkai into the Village." At this statement, Niji almost reached for his blade. After realizing that the statement was directed at him, he relents, but his expression turned into an irritated one. "Forgive me for doubting you, but you know the main rules of this Village, right? We don't want any troubles."

"He's not hostile, I can say for sure." Alice defended the Swordsman.

"You still haven't made your reasons clear, yet. Why are you showing him to our Village, really ...? Are you planning an incident? Oh surely there's a high chance for that, considering the amount of weaponry he had in his side."

Niji frowned.

"Now, I'd say you two Youkai leave this Village before something wrong happened. Surely, we don't want tha-" The silver haired woman raised her left hand as if trying to fire a danmaku bullet at the two, Alice only showed a sign of anger, but it was quickly stopped when the Swordsman stepped in front of the Puppeteer and raised his left hand in front of her, as if trying to shield her, again.

He gritted his teeth with and glared at the woman before them. "_Sorry to burst your bubble or anything._" He said with a cold yet striking tone. "... But no one says that to my current host. Alice-san is NOT like what you think she is." His stoic personalty started to fade. "And for the record, I think you've mistaken us for something different ... Miss." He dropped his left hand and let his cloak cover his body again. "... I am NOT a Youkai." He declared.

"... A-ah ..." Alice simply gasped lightly. "He's right. He's a Magician like me, and as I said before, he's not hostile. He's a traveler from somewhere a bit far from our location, and I simply brought him along to get him a place to stay. So can we please each an understanding between each other, now?" She almost took a step forward, but Niji shifted his body to the left, like still trying to protect her from like ... Anything.

The silver haired woman also shared the same surprised look Alice had. "..." Was all she said for a good 10 seconds. "... Alright. You two may enter the Village." She stated calmly. "But, if I find anything bad happens in the Village, I will hold you two responsible for this."

"We'll take note of that, let's go, Niji-san." Alice waved her hand lowly to the Swordsman. He nodded and followed the blonde into the village. He and the silver haired woman traded one last glare at each other, but somehow, Niji's glare managed to overpower hers, his cold, dark, and striking rainbow eyes are like a thousand needles, those pair can pierce even the most dense heart. Her expression turned into a neutral one. The swordsman scoffed and walked with the Magician into the main streets.

"_So much for expecting a pocketful of rainbows ..._" Niji muttered.

Alice shifted her head slightly to her right. "Don't mind her, she's just being protective of the Village, that's all."

"But was that really necessary?" Asked the Swordsman with his usual calm yet cold voice again.

"She's the protector of the Village, so I only find it natural for her to do that. **Keine Kamishirasawa, the History Eating Half Beast. **That's her name." The Puppeteer replied.

Niji raised his eyebrow. "Half Beast ...?" Alice was about to explain what it means to him but he interjected. "No need. I don't want to know anyway."

* * *

The two was quick to find their way to the center part of the village, but it was unsettling to see the people's uneasy faces when they saw the two. Some even steered their way out of the Magicians. It's going to be difficult to just even make eye contact to just one person there. They've been rejected from several inns and houses. Which Niji found to be rather annoying.

"They're treating us like we're some kind of aliens or something." Niji began. "I wonder what's their problem."

"It's no surprise, actually ... Mage-Beings like us are not really that accepted here in the Village." Alice replied.

"Then again, this is the only place where Humans can be truly safe."

"Correct."

The two stoic Magicians finally made their way to a small restaurant, which Niji assumed was a Cafe or some sort, his strange knowledge about the outside world made it easier for him to identify uncommon things that're present here at Gensokyo. Although with a bit of hesitation, a waiter finally placed the menu for them. About a minute or two, they placed their orders and wait.

"I'm sorry. Because of my looks and weapons, you also _get the stale bread_." The Swordsman said slowly.

Alice shook her head. "No, I think the one's at fault is me. I'm the real Youkai here you see."

"No, you are not a Youkai, and neither am I. Both of us are Magicians. a _Youkai-Class Magician_, to be exact." Corrected the Half-human. "Don't let yourself down just because of this trivial matter."

"I ..." The Puppeteer wanted to say something but she hesitated. "... Well, nevermind. Speaking of Magicians, I've always been wondering ... What kind of ability do you possess?"

Niji rested his hand on the table. "Eh, me? Well, I've been blessed with the Spectral-Skies therefore, having the power of the Seven Colors at my side. I've been holding onto these powers called Color Manipulation and Prism Magnifier. I can manipulate the colors of any being. Although its a bit useless. The other one however, is what I use at Danmaku battles. Prism Magnifier, is an ability to collect any form of light and manipulate them into a battle-oriented weapons, my **Seven Rings of Manipulation**, for example. My Declaration of Spell Card is also different from any others. Instead of activating it via Aura like all mage does, I have to do physical contact to the card in order to activate it. Like crushing it, slicing it, and etc." Explained the Half-Youkai. "What about you, Alice-san? I've never really seen you in action before."

Alice lets Shanghai to sit on the table and she puts her tome down. "Well, I have the power of the Seven Colors inside my body. I can use them in battle, each type of color resembles different Danmaku pattern as well as power. They're mostly lethal, and I refrained from using them, I only kept my base color, as well as my weakest color, Blue so far. I don't want anymore casualties involved in Danmaku. I've used these dolls to magnify the number of bullets I can fire, as well as boost my defense."

"Interesting indeed ..." He pouted. "Then again, we are called Magicians for a reason." The corner of his lips twitched up. It was the faintest of smiles given from him in like days.

The blonde chuckled lightly. "Still, we haven't found you a place to stay yet, are you sure that you're leaving so soon? You can stay at my house if you'd like. It's not like I get everyday visitors anyway." She said with an almost hoping tone.

"... Well ..." At the sudden statement, Niji seems to be lost in words. "... But what if someone ACTUALLY got lost? You can't possibly fill all of our stomachs, can't you? I mean ... I thank you for the offer, and I appreciate it. I really do, but still, considering the circumstances ..."

"Well, no one ever really ever visited my house safe for one friend, and she doesn't stay, since she had her own house. So I think the chances for someone else to stop by or even discover my house is at a minimum, if not, none."

"... Still, better safe than sorry, I guess."

After just a brief lunch, the two continued their search for a place for Niji to live. With Alice stopping at a few shops to gather some supplies. Much to Niji's disappointment, Every time they checked for an Inn or any house available, they ... or rather he got rejected, some said that there are no more rooms available, some put it bluntly and told them that their place are not welcoming any non-Human beings. Niji thought this happened because of his looks and equipment. One special case, the two got kicked out immediately from an inn.

"Niji-san, it's really getting late." The blonde reminded, he then realized that the sun is already low at the horizon.

"..." As much as he hate to admit it, she's right. "I guess you're right ... Still ..."

"Your head is still not doing that well, Niji-san." He then realized that he has been having headaches since that morning, not to mention his forehead is still bandaged. "If you force yourself too much, the wounds might open up again."

"... Alright, you win." Niji sighed with a defeated tone.

* * *

Night skies began to greet Gensokyo, countless waves of stars decorated the dark skies and illuminated them in a beautiful way. The usual dark horizons are now cleared due to the lack of skies. Soft winds are blowing from the east, night birds began to chirp. What a way to end a night, especially when you're in flight ... With a girl ... And you two have area just for yourselves. Both Alice and her guest admired the view from where they are.

"So, Niji-san. I've been wondering, what's that thing on your back, over at your left shoulder, I mean ...?" Asked the Puppeteer with her curiosity getting the best of her.

"Oh, this?" The blue haired Magician pointed at the Blue mechanism with 5 green blades attached to it on his back. "This is ... Uh, how should I explain it ... You might won't get it, though." He replied hesitantly, but Alice gave a nod for him to continue anyway. "... Well, I call this thing 'the Quantum Sword Bits dock'."

"Quantum Sword Bits dock?" She asked again.

"Yeah, these five blades I haven't used are controlled via a Magic brainwave. It's similar to our dolls, but it's more complicated. Since I already have my hands full wielding these two swords here, I have to use a Spell Card in order to extend my Magi Brainwave to the next level. Then, I can use these 5 other blades as well as these two swords in combat, like multitasking your dolls ... Except this is more ... dangerous, I guess."

"Controlling seven swords at once ... So that explains your title, am I correct?"

"Yep, Sword of Seven means that the wielder can wield Seven Swords at once. These two particular swords I had here are given from my ... Dad." He hesitated slightly. "**Harbinger and Leviathan.**" He spoke.

"Hmm?"

"The name of these two swords. And these five blades on my back, they're ... **Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, and Papua.**"

Alice stared blankly at the Swordsman. "You named your swords?" She chuckled lightly.

"What's so bad about it?" Niji was quick to hide his embarrassed face, yet he quickly regained his calm and collected look. "These swords meant a lot to me, that's all."

"Alright, alright, I believe you, Niji-san." The Puppeteer gave a faint smile to the Swordsman. "Now let's hurry back. We don't want to be attacked by a Youkai now, don't we?"

"I suppose ..." The Swordsman replied back, and the two jets of into the distance.

* * *

_'Holy crap, son, I didn't know that you had a girlfriend.'_

* * *

**End of Chapter Three**

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Here's chapter three guys.

Okay, I've slightly altered some things in here, especially for Alice. I've changed her official race which was a full-pledged Youkai, into a Magician, although with the same class name. I also thought that you guys might wonder what are the classes of magicians that I've made up, yes? Let me give you a quick run down about it.

- Fairy Class : These Magicians are present only for the Fairy race, and they're the weakest of all of the Magician classes present. As expected, they're weak and probably will lose easily, although they have slightly higher Magic stats than normal fairies.

- Human Class : These type of Magicians are scattered on the ranks of the Village Guards. They're mainly composed of Humans who have adapted to Magi auras. Most of them can cast several Danmakus but not strong enough to produce a Spell Card. Not the weakest, but also not the strongest. The strongest Human Type Magician known by all is Marisa Kirisame.

- Natural and Youkai Class : These two classes of Magicians have similar traits. When born, Natural Magicians can instantly adapt to Magi auras, therefore making them much more powerful than usual Human Magicians. Youkai class are the Magicians who have adapted to Magi auras, albeit at a much more dangerous levels. Most of the Youkai class Magicians are Youkai themselves, although some rare cases have been found. Natural and Youkai class Magicians stands at the same level.

- Wizard Class : The strongest of them all. I can't spoil those information to you guys ... Yet ... ;)

About the Five blades, they're named after the five major Islands here at my country, Indonesia.

I guess that's it. I can't really explain anything more now, do I? I hope you guys enjoyed the story so far. Thanks for reading. Traesto. (:


	5. Meeting Gensokyo's Heroines

It's almost a week since the Swordsman's arrival, and everyday, he would wake up in the same guest room that Alice had prepared for him. He needed to thank God for not making him a greedy bastard that could only eat like a fat lard. Instead, he helped the Puppeteer with her research in Magic, since both of them are high powered class Magicians, their work, without a doubt turned to the more positive side. They're currently researching potions, mostly for healing, in which they can use to help the others. They're also researching a new spell which they can use to boost their magic capabilities.

Since the swordsman's going to stay at her house for a while, Alice had insisted him to make the room up to his needs. Niji hesitated at first, thinking that he should not mess with someone's room. But then again, waking up to see a bunch of dolls and flowers, especially when you're a guy isn't the most comforting thing ever. He reluctantly agreed to the puppeteer's request, refurbishing the room. He manipulated the color from pale white into a light tan and tidied the furniture up to his needs.

One peaceful morning after another, everything seems to be doing good for the both of them. Just one morning, Niji was sitting on a small chair that was set up at the front of the house alone, enjoying the view he came to really admire of. With his usual white shirt on, he enjoyed a glass of milk he prepared for himself. It was still early, and although he was not really a morning person, he woke up unusually early for today, but not earlier than his blonde haired host.

He could see some dolls doing the housework from the outside. He paid them little attention.

"Sometimes, I wonder why am I having random paranoia issues ... Like hearing some voices and such ..." He sighed to himself. "... Like when I see something new a bell rings inside my head or something ..." He continued. "... Great, I'm talking to myself again." The Swordsman hummed before continuing again. "Still, that voice ... It all felt so ... Familiar in my ears."

He took another sip from his milk, and placed the cup on the small table rested just beside his chair. He looked up again, watching the far horizons covered in light fog, there's quite a few clouds today, so it's not as hot as the other ones. He did pick something up, though. A flash of light seems to be heading straight for him in an unknown reason.

"What's that?" Niji squinted his eyes to see the flickering light, which turned out to be ... Stars? "What the ...?"

Then it hit him. It's a Danmaku Projectile.

"Oh crap."

* * *

**Project Shrine Maiden : Lost Colors**

**Chapter Four : Meeting Gensokyo's Heroines**

* * *

Niji ducked, his head barely escaping a certain hit from a star-shaped Danmaku Projectile. He got up from his left knee, his rainbow eyes scanning the area for any hostiles, he knew that his weapons were still inside. He had to fight the enemy armed with only his Spell Cards. He looked back to where he was sitting, there's a slight burnt mark on the chair. The shot was non-lethal. He jumped to the open grounds and assumed a fighting stance.

"Who's there?" He asked out loud, keeping his calm tone, although he didn't let his alerted state off just yet. He summoned a Spectrum colored circle in his left hand. His eyes averting gazes from left to right, above to down below, scanning for any hostile. His eyes picked another star shaped Projectile heading to him, he dived to his right and aimed the circle at the source.

He fired several miniature colorful needles, although no hits were registered, the thin fog was enough to provide coverage for the enemy. Just then, a loud near deafening sound boomed out from behind him. He turned around to find ...

"**ZZZZZEEEE ! ! !**"

"_... Ke._"

A black and white flash charged into him at high speed, forcing the Swordsman to do a horizontal roll to his right, barely evading the sudden charge, he fired a few more rounds of needles into the target. The black and white figure evaded the shots and did a vertical 360 roll, the figure landed on the ground with a broom in hand a weird box in the other. Then, there's silence, neither of the two made a move. The figure finally raised her head.

Niji stood before another girl, she had a blonde hair, similar to Alice's although longer, and striking golden eyes. A small braid is tied onto her left with a white ribbon. She wore a set of black and white clothing, mainly a white short-sleeved shirt white a black vest over it, a long and big skirt that extends just below her knees, with a white apron tied to her waist. There's pouches visible on her belt, but what made her stand out is the huge black colored witch hat on her head. She got this confident grin on her face, despite that she's glaring daggers to the Swordsman.

"Who are you?" Questioned the girl.

"I think I should be the one asking that." Came the reply.

She chuckled lightly. "Confident one are ya? So tell me, what'cha doin' at Alice's house, ze?"

'_Ze?_' Thought the blue haired magician quickly, but he dismissed the thought. "I'm her guest, and she's my host."

"She doesn't usually take guests ... Especially guys like you. You need to be more convincing." She looked visibly surprised but her grin doesn't disappear from her face.

"Well, are you a tough nut to crack ..." Sighed the Half-Youkai. "I'm a Swordsman that hails from a temple that's located kinda far from here. I'm currently on my Pilgrimage journey, I just found this house by a random chance. I was given a room to stay at by the host of the house, A fellow Magicia-"

"EXPLANATION DENIED!" She yelled with a playful tone as she summoned a few more projectiles.

"Oh for the love of ..." Niji was quick to react, he propelled himself to his to fly out of the line of fire while also returning fire to the girl, which he assumed to be a witch or some sort. "So, I assume that you knew Alice-san, considering how you assaulted me like that?"

"Yep, she's a friend of mine." Replied the witch as she fired more and more projectiles towards the Swordsman.

The half-Human expanded the circle and gave a slight push with his left hand, a wave of air was pushed by a large force. The Danmaku Projectiles were pushed away harmlessly from the main line of fire. "I see." He hummed.

The with was pushed away slightly but managed to land on the ground with her broom in hand. "Heh, you're a tough one." A light flickers above her head, and a card is summoned on her hand. "But, I guess it's time to pack up."

"Tch ..." Tutted the Magician as he summoned another circle of light.

"**Spell Card!**" She declared, aiming the strange box at the Swordsman. "**Love Sign ...**" A spectrum colored light began to charge up at the end of the box. "**Master Spark ! ! !**" With that, a large rainbow colored beam was fired out, the Swordsman's eyes went wide immediately as he saw the incoming ray of light. He gritted his teeth, and he managed to dash out to safety.

Then just before counter-attacking, he realized that his victory was meant to be short lived as he saw the rainbow colored beam continued to fly towards ... "... Alice-san's house!" He yelled in sudden panic. He turned his back from the witch and blinked once. "**Wings of Light ...**" He declared with a soft voice, then started to mutter something in an inaudible tone and he closed his eyes.

A light began to appear from his back, and with a gritted teeth, he opens his eyes and ... He vanishes immediately, leaving behind after images of his dashing body.

"E-eh?" The witch asked out loud, dumbfounded by the sight, until she also realized that her beam is headed straight for Alice's house. "Oh ... Damn, ze."

"**MANIPULATION - PRIWEN SHIELD LAYERS!**" A voice boomed out from the distance. At the sudden command, the Seven layered shield made of light-color manipulated rings formed up, deflecting the incoming shield also canceling it out. A lone figure stands between the Beam and the house. After the beam was cancelled out completely, the azure haired figure suddenly slumped to the ground, knees first, then finally his whole body collapsed and he fell to the ground.

"W-wait ..." The witch scratched her head as she flies nearer to the figure. "When and how did he get there so fast ...?" She questioned herself.

Suddenly the door banged itself open, revealing a certain blonde haired Puppeteer. "What just happened ...?" She asked out loud, her eyes fell on the figure lying on the ground. She immediately gasped lightly. "Niji-san!" She ran into the Swordsman in which he stood up gingerly as he picked the voice up. "Are you alrigh-"

"I'm fine." He replied simply, but sounded out of breath for some reason.

"Alice!" A voice reached out to both of their ears, the two turned their heads around to see the witch flying towards them in high speed. Sensing danger, the swordsman raised his hand to pull Alice to his back and he used his left hand to summon a circle of light.

Niji narrowed his eyes and prepared to fire another wave of Danmaku until the puppeteer intervenes. She pulled his hand down and shook his head once. "She's not hostile, Niji-san." And with that cold stare, Niji relents.

The witch landed in front of them, a confused look on her face.

"Marisa, would you mind explaining why are you assaulting my guest?" Alice asked with a cold voice which made broom riding blonde to drop her grin slightly.

"O-oh, so you're not lying after all, ahaha ..." She laughed awkwardly.

The swordsman gave her an unimpressed look. "I don't see a reason why I should do that."

The blonde witch could feel those piercing glares from the two magicians in front of her. "E-eh ..." She stammered out. "Well ... Sorry, I guess." She bowed slightly as she pushed her head down with her hand. "But seriously, Alice, you don't usually accept guests. What's with this guy?" Asked her as she straightened herself up again.

"Nij-san here's a traveler. He's a swordsman from ... from ..." She trailed off.

That's right, he hasn't really told her where did he come from. "... From the far east." He answered.

"... What he said. And he's on his pilgrimage journey. I'm simply providing him a place to stay, that's all. He's a fellow magician and he's not hostile, so can we please understand each other now?" Demanded the puppeteer.

At the mention of the term 'Magician', the other blonde's eyes glittered up immediately. "Really? He's a magician?!" She walked up closer to him. The half-Youkai gave her an uneasy look. "Now, you have my interest. **Marisa Kirisame, Ordinary Magician**, at your service, ze!"

"_Self-Proclaimed_ Ordinary Magician." Corrected Alice. "She's a Human-Class Magician, although she's in training to be a full pledged Youkai-Class."

"Niji Heika, Spectral Swordsman." Niji replied hesitantly as he held his hand out.

Her confident grin grew wider, and she slapped his hand five. "Nice to meet ya."

"Um ... Yeah. Nice to meet you too." He pulled his hand back.

"So, I take you have a good reason on why are you here at this early time?" Alice crossed her arms.

"Well ..."

* * *

A short self-explaining story, Marisa wanted to visit the Hakurei Shrine, she wanted company, she forced the two to come with her. Somehow, they agreed ... Somehow. After dressing up with his usual gray colored cloak, the two magicians and one ... self-proclaimed magician, made their flight through the dense Forest of Magic. Alice and Niji using their honed flight skills and Marisa with her broom.

"So, on our last battle, how'd you end up on Alice's house so fast?" Marisa suddenly asked, gaining Niji's attention.

"I think the answer's pretty obvious, Marisa-san ... Us mages' flight powers are different from different than the rest." Came the reply.

"Please drop the honorific." The witch scratched her head lowly.

"Maybe I will ... Once I get to know you better, Marisa-san."

Her grin drops slightly but kept her usual confidence up as always. "Whatever, Niji." Dropping honorifics just after 10 minutes after they met. Nice. "But, really? I thought that mages couldn't manipulate flight speed, only their spell and danmaku's strength."

Niji flinched lightly. "Really?" he asked with a confused tone. "I thought magicians could do that. My dad said so-" He went silent immediately. "My ... Dad ...?" He asked himself as he put a hand up to his head, a sudden flash rings inside his mind.

_'That's impossible ... My mom told me he died the day I was born ... But what the hell ...?'_

"Niji-san?" Alice spoke up, sending Shanghai over to the swordsman, to pat his head several times.

Marisa looked over to her back. "Hey, is he alright?"

"I'm also wondering the same thing ..." Alice said with a slight concerned tone.

Niji puts his hand away. "I'm ... fine. I just ... Can we just drop the topic of conversation, please?"

"Uh ... Sure, whatever you say, Niji."

The rest of the flight continued in an uneasy silence, not awkward, but uneasy silence. Marisa continued to fly towards the shrine, with Alice and Niji slightly lagging behind. The puppeteer would occasionally look to her back with a concerned face. The swordsman only gave her his usual calm yet cold look, signalling that he's okay, although it was unconvincing.

* * *

The group of three landed on an opening on top of a hill. From afar, you could see that an old structure stands tall, it was obvious that it's the Hakurei Shrine, the shrine that's said to keep the balance between Gensokyo and the Outside World. The red Torii is visibly seen, and the shrine ground was smaller than expected. There's the main building, and the storeroom visible on the back. Nothing special, really. Except the slight cool wind blowing, not surprising, since they're on top of a hill.

"Oi, Reimu! You there?" Marisa yelled out loud.

A muffled response came from the inside. They couldn't make it out, but it was obvious that the source came from a girl. Their eyes turned into the main building of the shrine. What they saw afterwards was ...

A girl with a slightly long black hair, with one ponytail tied on her back. She wore a large red ribbon on top oh her hair, which Niji assumed she used that to keep her ponytail tied up. Her dark crimson eyes glowing with no interest. She also wore a red and white colored shrine maiden outfit with a yellow neckerchief tied to her neck, the sleeves are detached from the main torso, revealing some parts of her upper arm skin.

"What is it?" The shrine maiden asked, her eyes shifted to the swordsman. "Who's this guy right here?"

"**Reimu Hakurei, the Shrine Maiden of Paradise.**" Niji spoke up. "I've never actually thought about seeing you in person."

Reimu kept her gaze unmoving from the young man. "Have we met before?" Questioned her.

The swordsman shook his head once. "I don't think so ... But, I've heard of you lots of time now. You've been resolving quite a few incidents these past few years. The Scarlet Mist ... The Hisoutensoku ... The Perfect Cherry Blossom ... And more."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." She replied lazily. "So, are you going to donate to my shrine or something?"

Niji raised an eyebrow, apart from her amazing Danmaku skills, she's also known for her laziness and greediness, especially for money.

"Unfortunately, I don't bring any money with me right now, sorry, Reimu-san." He replied to her with his usual emotionless tone.

The miko shrugged. "Eh, I should've thought. You can drop the honorifics, though."

"Being friendly to your new guest, Reimu ~?" A feminine voice reached out to their ears. Reimu sighed and wore an irritated look on her face, Marisa kept her usual grin, Alice and Niji put on their straight face as usual, although the half-Human seems a bit intrigued to find the source of the voice.

He didn't have to look far, because, just 5 feet away from the group, A thing which Niji assumed a portal opened up, inside it, there was nothing but an endless void of violet and red colored eyes ... Well that was a bit creepy. But not a second later a chuckle erupted from the inside of the portal, and suddenly, a young woman came out.

She's wearing a light violet mob cap with a small red moebius strip tied like a ribbon on its top. She had deep violet colored eyes and long blonde hair. Her clothes was rather ... Unique, to say the least, She wears a purple Chinese-style tabard with various Trigrams over a pale pink Western-style dress. She had a pale violet parasol opened up to shield her from the almost-noon sun, and a fan on the other hand to cover a portion of her face. Even with the fan blocking her face, Niji could tell that she's grinning behind it.

"Yukari ..." Reimu began with an unenthusiastic manner. "What are you doing here? What do you want ...?"

"Ufufu ..." This time, Niji couldn't tell whether she was chuckling or actually letting out a creepy laugh out from her mouth. "... Now, now, Reimu ~ ... That's not a proper way to treat a guest, right?"

Reimu sighed. "You still haven't told my why are you here."

"Oh, just checking up on you, and looks like you have other guests here as well ..." She closed her fan, revealing a motherly smile to the group, her violet eyes shifted to the swordsman. "Oh ... And who might you be ...? I haven't seen you before."

This time, the miko looks genuinely surprised. "You don't know him?" She whispered. "Weird, you usually know strange people like him."

The blonde haired woman only rested her hands on the edge of her portal and gave Reimu a knowingly look, signalling her that she's telling the truth, the red-white shrine maiden looked even more surprised but kept her mouth shut for obvious reasons.

"My name's Niji Heika, Spectral Swordsman. It''s a pleasure to meet you." He spoke, it was rather surprising to see a woman just hanging up from a portal like that, his face showing little signs of shock but it was still straight nevertheless.

She plops into her portal and it disappears, much to Niji's surprise, and suddenly opens up again just a few inches away from his face. The same blonde haired woman plops up with a mischievous smile on her face. "My my ~ ..." She hummed with a seductive tone. "Aren't you a fine looking young man ..."

Niji backed away slightly. "... Uhm ..." He muttered with an uneasy tone.

"Don't be afraid, boy, I'm just playing with you." She opens up her fan again to cover her face slightly. "I'm **Yukari Yakumo, The Youkai of Boundaries**. But I'm sure you've heard of me before, yes?"

_'The Youkai of Boundaries ...' _Niji repeated the word in his mind, and shuddered at the continued thought. '_I've heard of that nickname before, but I've never actually thought that it'll be her out of all people, I thought she would look a little bit more intimidating._'

Reimu groaned. "Please don't mind her. She's usually like this."

Marisa was watching the scene entirely with an amused face, Alice simply raised an eyebrow.

"So ... I don't usually get a crowd visiting me at once, what brings you guys here?" Reimu pointed her thumb to her shrine building, signalling her guests that they can enter it. They all proceed to follow her, with Yukari only using her portal to instantly plop herself inside the main room of the old looking shrine building.

The inside was pretty much ... ancient, to say the least, most of the furniture looked old and looking a bit dusty. The building's pretty much almost at its rundown state. But of course, Niji couldn't help but feel the ... 'Home-y' feel about the place. It's quite spacious, especially for just one person to live inside it.

"Nothing in particular, just wanna check up on you, ze." Marisa answered as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Just want to chat, huh? Right, right, I'll go grab some tea." Reimu dismissed herself as she walked away from the room. Marisa and Alice were chattering about something, Niji was out at the veranda, standing with his arms crossed beneath his grey cloak.

"So, I've never actually seen you around here. Who are you, really?" Niji shifted his gaze to his left, and saw Yukari hanging from her portal. "Your clothes aren't exactly familiar in here too."

He sighed dismissively. "I'm a swordsman from the far east. To be more precise, I'm the most recent member of the Order of the Seven Swordsmen, with me being the Seventh Sword."

"I've heard of that group before ..." She remarked, still with her ... slight playful tone, she then noticed the insignia on his cloak and her eyes narrowed a bit. "That emblem ..."

The half-Youkai can be visible seen a bit stunned as she remarked the insignia. "You know about it?"

"The Legendary Arcanum, right? That group ..."

Niji frowned. "Yeah, looks like I'm fortunate enough to be a member of the Arcanum ... Look, Yukari-san, as much as you want to talk about it, can we just not do that? I'd rather not reveal some of my troubling past."

Yukari stared at him blankly, she blinked once, and gave him her usual motherly smile. "Of course. I'll respect your answer ... For now. Although I can't help but remember that the group's leader single-handedly saved this land from a certain extinction. I wonder what's he doing right now ...?"

Niji only looked away from her. "..."

"Niji-kun?" She asked.

"_He's dead, Yukari-san. The leader of the Legendary Arcanum died a long time ago. I'm the last surviving member._" He replied shifting his dimming rainbow eyes to the Youkai of the Boundaries in which she only returned him a look of complete shock.

* * *

**End of Chapter Four**

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Hey there guys, here's chapter four! You thought that I would forget about this? HAH! No!

Sorry for not updating in quite a while, there's high school with its finals, and then there's ... Eastern Fantasy! A major project in which I assumed most of you who are reading this already know, yeah? And for those who're not familiar yet with the project you can check it out.

So in this chapter ... It's a bit short, sorry.

So, to explain, Niji's use of his inhuman speed is basically based on the Crow Tengu's speed, but with a much more complex explanation. More of its mechanics will be explained later. And about the Arcanum's history ... It's a bit dark to say the least, but more'll be revealed as the time progresses onwards. The only logical thing to explain for now about the group is, something bad happened a long time ago, the leader intervenes, and he vanished from existence entirely. DRAMA TIME.

Well, that's about it. Thanks for reading, don't forget to check out the Eastern fantasy Project if you're interested. Hope you enjoyed the story so far. Traesto! (:


	6. Shikaisen in Distress

"Here's the tea, guys." A voice chimed in, breaking the conversation between Alice and Marisa. They turned their heads to face the door, and it slid open, revealing a certain shrine miko. Reimu walks into the room carrying a tray with some cups as well as a teapot. She sets the tray down on the table and began to pour some tea for her guests.

"Thanks, ze." Marisa spoke with her usual confident grin as she took a cup into her hands.

The shrine's miko looked around. "By the way? Where's Yukari and that guy?"

"Oh, I think I saw them talking about something outside." Alice replied, also taking a cup into her hands.

Reimu shrugged, she took two more cups and walks outside to meet the two.

* * *

"Oi, Yukari, here's your tea ... Eh?" She went outside to the veranda of her shrine, only to be greeted only by Niji, who was looking into the distance, with the Youkai of boundaries no where in sight. She took a good look around, Yukari's no where to be seen. "Niji-san, isn't it?" A nod came as the reply. "Have you seen Yukari? Alice said that the two of you were talking just now."

"..." The swordsman flinched, he gritted his teeth, with his eyes still looking away to the far horizons. "_Kh ..._" He lets out a soft grunt. He also seems to be slightly trembling. Which in turn made the shrine maiden to look at him with a confused face.

"Niji-san?" Reimu asked again trying to get a good view of his face, the miko takes a step forward to face him. noticing this attempt, the magician turned his head to his right, also shielding his face with his bangs. "Are ... Are you alright?"

Once again, the swordsman flinched at the question, realizing that she probably won't let go of it, he opens his mouth. "I'm fine." He replied simply, although his voice sounded sore and pretty desperate. It's obvious that it was a lie, and an unconvincing one indeed.

"A-are you su-"

"I'm sure." Niji turned his face to Reimu, his straight, calm and collected look present again on his face. "Yukari-san left just a while ago." He replied.

Reimu stayed silent for a few seconds. "I see." She spoke. "Well, why don't you head in? Everyone seems to be waiting for you." She suggested, as she points the door to the main building with her free hand's thumb.

The blue haired magician only gave her a nod as a reply, before walking back into the shrine's main living room. The miko stood silently at the veranda of her shrine, taking in the view, she sighed once.

"What did you do to him, Yukari?" She spoke, before heading inside her shrine as well.

* * *

**Project Shrine Maiden : Lost Colors**

**Chapter Five : Shikaisen in Distress**

* * *

Noticing the swordsman's arrival, both of the magicians present in the room shifted their gaze from each other and to him. But, he wasn't like his usual self. His expression unreadable, his face emotionless, well ... He's usually emotionless at the first place, but this time, he had absolutely ZERO emotion. It's like his face has just lost its ability to make a look or something. He kept his calm and collected look as usual, though.

"So, Niji." Marisa was the first one to speak. "Where's Yukari?"

The half-Youkai sat down on the floor besides the puppeteer, seeing how he WON'T be sitting next to the witch for paranoia reasons. "She left." He replied simply. Also, this time, his tone was completely straight. It was not stressed or anything. It's just a straightforward 'She Left', courtesy of Niji Heika, the Seventh Sword.

"Eh, expected from that gap hag." Marisa, oblivious to the heavy atmosphere, kept on talking.

But Alice, on the other hand, seems to be sensing something rather off from her guest. His rainbow colored eyes emits little to no life at all. Her all seeing crystalline blue eyes could see that he's acting a bit strange just now, not obvious, but significant enough for her to see the change. Like he's a bit ... Disoriented about something, she could see it. She's ... Tempted to send her doll to comfort the swordsman.

But, she'd rather ask him herself ... But, then again, knowing that he likes to keep secrets, he'll probably just reply her with just a simple 'I'm fine' or 'Nothing's wrong', and the list goes on. Still, it won't hurt to try, right?

"Niji-san, are you okay?" She asked, sincere worry obvious on her tone of speech. Her heart slowly hoping that at least the young man would give her a satisfying answer, at least a 'no', at the very least.

Niji stayed silent. He didn't move nor speak. He only kept his vision unmoved from the cup of tea he had in his hands. At the question, he fidgets slightly, disturbing the calm surface of the tea he had. "..." He sets his tea down to the table. He turned his face to Alice, and just gave her a small smile.

That smile ... It's so sad. And there it is again. Even when he's usually troubled, he would reply, but now, he kept his mouth shut and just gave her a sad smile. Only one thing crossed at the puppeteer's mind as soon as she saw that.

_'What's wrong with him?'_

The atmosphere became uneasily unsociable. Reimu had just entered the area, and could already feel the awkward atmosphere. Marisa, finally sensing the mood shut her mouth. All of them had the same expression as Alice's, which is rather concerned for the magician's well mental being. Did Yukari did something that snaps his mind?

Noticing the sudden gazes, Niji perked his face up. "Guys, I'm fine, seriously."

Marisa stood up and took a step closer to the swordsman. "You sure? Cause you don't look exactly ... _Fine_, to me, ze." She states, before noticing that the mechanism over his shoulder ... _Moved_. "E-eh?!" She yelped, slightly jumping backwards.

Everyone in the room looked at her with a confused face, including Niji himself. Noticing this, Reimu was the first one to ask. "Something wrong, Marisa?"

The witch raised a finger and points it at the half-Human's blades-dock. "That thing, on your back, it ... It just moved."

Niji raised an eyebrow. "This? Oh, yeah." He pouted slightly, having forgot to explain that his docking mechanism is partly sentient. "Well, I suppose I should explain what the hell is thing is, yes?" A nod came from everyone except Alice. The magician sighed in relieve as Marisa finally managed to change the topic of the conversation. With one final sip from his tea, Niji raised his head.

"This thing is called Quantum Sword Bits' dock, as you can see, it has 5 small green blades attached to its outer hull." He began as the mechanism started to move more freely this time, showing off its blades. "These blades are controlled by me, via a mind connecting magic wire that extends from its docking port once the lock has been released. It also acts as a support Danmaku weapon." The mechanism flips to its blunt end, and the group could see a hole on its end. "Therefore, I can shoot at least 3 bullets at once when my other five blades are not active." He paused when he saw the others staring at him confusedly.

"You-" Reimu began but was cutoff.

"Yeah, I can't fire several Danmakus at once. I have to rely on my swords, blades and this in order to produce a Danmaku projectile." He explained. "And also yea, my blades can be also used as a long range weaponry. With the total of five blades, two swords, and the Excalibur, I can fire only _eight_ Danmaku projectiles at once."

Eight. That number echoed on Alice's mind for sometime. How could someone actually fight in danmaku battles while he can only fire eight projectiles at a time? But then again, seeing him defeating Meiling proved her wrong.

Marisa then absentmindedly started to poke the docking mechanism, only to meet with the actual receiving end of that thing, glowing with a deep blue color. "E-eh?!" She yelped once more, jumping back. Niji raised an eyebrow along with Alice.

Reimu sighed. "Don't let her touch your gear. She'll probably steal them. Trust me. Sooner or later, if you let Marisa look into your stuff, you'll notice that some of it went missing."

Marisa, hearing this, jolted forward and glared at the miko. "Hey, it's not stealing when I'm borrowing them till the day I die, ze!" Protested the witch.

"That doesn't make any difference!" Reimu glared back.

Niji raised a hand, attempting to break the two conflicting sides, he cleared his throat. "Well this thing is ... Actually partly sentient." Everyone, including Alice went wide eyed after hearing the declaration. "This thing, it's 'partly me'. Some of my consciousness is stored in this thing, thus making it partially sentient." He explained.

"B-but, if part of you was in there the whole time, why's it moving only now?" Stammered the puppeteer, Niji can be seen visibly surprised. It's rare to see the blonde magician at her shocked state.

The swordsman calmly took a sip from his tea again. "Well, it's moving, alright. Every few minutes or so, this thing would twitch only slightly to keep the part of my consciousness from dying."

"What you're trying to say is, a part of your consciousness is stored in that thing, and if doesn't move, basically, a part of you dies?" Reimu asked. A nod came as a reply. "Well, that's one dark way to look at it." She pouted quickly.

"But what about when you sleep, ze?" Marisa added.

Niji rested his hands on the table. "Well, it doesn't need to be moved necessarily. I think this thing can move with its own conscious now. Oh, it's still me, but I guess it'll be way too complicated to explain it to you guys."

"But, why can't you find something smaller? Like a necklace or a ring or something." The witch interjected.

"While I would do that, my consciousness won't actually ... Fit, in there, thus, leading me to build this instead. And yes, I also built this without the Kappa's assistance." The swordsman replied.

"So ... It's basically a sentient weapon." Alice hypothesized.

The swordsman shook his head. "Not necessarily. To simple things up, this thing only acts as a storage for a part of my consciousness. I made this thing so it could also help me during combat. Although, I do wish I could store it somewhere else, just like what Marisa-san said back then." As said, both the mechanism and its master perked downwards, as if disappointed about it.

"Oh don't worry about it, ze." Marisa patted the swordsman's back."At least your ... thing's not inserted with a childish personality, not like SOMEONE I KNOW WITH HER DOLLS." With that, the witch snickered loudly as she turned her face to the puppeteer.

Alice glared at her fellow magician. "That's not necessarily needed, Marisa."

* * *

After an uneventful day of talking, more talking, drinking tea, more talking, and ... Well, more tea drinking and ... More talking. Time finally passed, and it's already nearing sunset. The skies have shifted their colors from bright blue into a deep shade of orange and yellow. The gradient colored horizon and the 'caw'ing crows signaled the group that it's already dusk.

"Well, I suppose we should head home." Alice spoke, standing up from the wooden floors, followed by Niji. Marisa, taking one final sip from her tea, followed suit.

Reimu was left looking at the orange skies. "Hmm? Oh right. I didn't realize that it's already this late, though."

"So, I guess, we'll see you later, then, Reimu, ze." The witch picked her broom which she rested on the door a while ago, sitting on the wooden stick, the self-proclaimed magician started to float. "Laters!" With that farewell, Marisa blasted herself off into the distance with frightening speed, noticing she managed to break the sound barrier, Niji was colored 'impressed'.

"Well, there she goes ..." Alice squinted her eyes to the distance, looking at Marisa who had turned into a flick of light just now. "I guess we'll take our leave as well, Reimu."

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure." Reimu waved her guests off dismissively. "Come back again later, yeah?"

"Certainly." With that, the two magicians started to float upwards, they lean their body forward to gain some speed and altitude. After floating higher than the red torii, the two speeds off into the distance.

* * *

Niji didn't spoke at all. Simple as that. And the flight was going peaceful, maybe, too peaceful, even. So peaceful that it's getting uneasy for the puppeteer. Ever since that afternoon, the young man's ... different from his usual self.

The flight's going to stay that way until Niji's sharp eye captured the image of something flickering in the distance. Dropping the acceleration to a full stop, the swordsman just floats there, Alice, realizing this, stopped her flight as well. As usual, just like a sister worried about her brother, the puppeteer was just about to ask the fellow magician. Niji, seeing the puppeteer closing in to him raised his right hand.

"Wait." He requested ... Well, maybe demanded. "Can you see that?" He pointed to the far edges of the forest. In which Alice turned her crystalline blue eyes and started to squint it. With her field of vision narrowed and her heightened range, the puppeteer could see some lights flickering over the far horizons. No, they're not stars, and thanks to the already darkening horizons, they could see it rather clearly from the high altitude.

"Now that you say it ..." Alice nodded, noticing the weird formation of lights. "Yes, what are those? That doesn't look like Danmaku patterns."

Niji pouted in mid-air. "I agree." He nodded back. "Could be something else."

"Do you want to examine the area?"

"Yeah."

Alice then floats closer to him. "Then, let's go-"

"I'm going alone." He cut her off, simple as that.

Hearing the reply, Alice looks visibly surprised. "W-what?"

"What if it's a threat and hostile to us?"

"The chances are unlikely, Niji-san. Gensokyo is filled with relatively peaceful Youkais." Alice raised an eyebrow as she replied disapprovingly.

"I know, but it's just a precaution. Besides, you haven't ate anything since morning, I can tell. You should get home and fix yourself a dinner. I'll be back as soon as this is cleared. And yes, I haven't ate since morning as well, but I'll survive. And no again, you can't follow me, trust me, Alice-san, I know how to handle myself."

"But-"

"No 'buts'. Look, I just don't want you to get hurt, okay?" Sighed the swordsman as he replied, as if nagging his own little sister.

Upon hearing the reply, Alice's eyes widened slightly. "U-uh ..." She stammered once more, looking away in slight embarrassment. "Alright." She sighed but with a knowingly tone, she added. "Just be careful." She spoke, literally ending the argument between the two.

"I will." Nodded Niji, and with one last wave, Alice flies to the north. Turning his gaze to his left, he focused on the flickering lights once more. He opens his cloak, making it flow with the wind, and revealing the Arcanum's insignia. "Now let's see what that thing is." A loud deafening noise sounded off, a light forming on his back, with one last breath, he dashed off. Leaving only a faint green light behind.

* * *

A moment later, a speeding figure is seen flying through the night skies of Gensokyo, joining the vast formations of stars already lighting up the land of fantasies above, people would think that it's a shooting star instead of a flying young man, really. But considering that the light has been bothering him for quite sometime now, Niji decided to increase his velocity.

As he flew, dashing through the night skies, his ears picked something up. Something that sounds like ... Slicing, explosion, and faint sounds of pain, coming directly from the light source. Noticing this, the swordsman and his mechanism's head perked up, readying themselves. Niji landed on a nearby tree, slowly and softly, to avoid any detection. He scanned his own landing zone for any signs of battle, there were none.

He floats down from the tree into a nearby bush, crouching himself downwards, he pulled his twin swords, Harbinger and Leviathan out of their sheaths and into his hands. Gripping his gun-blades tightly, he advanced stealthily to the source of the light. As he walked closer to the source, he could hear the sounds getting louder. Then, he realized that the voice giving out the pain yelps was actually feminine.

'_Are they doing a Danmaku battle?_' Thought the swordsman quickly. '_Impossible. If they're actually doing it, they'd be at the skies instead, and the lights produced are certainly not Danmaku patterns, just like Alice-san said back then._' He killed his hypothesis by shaking his head several times. '_And this girl seems to be in trouble. Better hurry up._'

With a nod to himself, he plops out of the bushes and started to jog silently to the area. As he ran, his eyes began to pick more and more signs of carnage, starting from holes at the ground, burnt marks on the trees, cut marks literally everywhere, and is that ... Blood? He stopped his light jog to see the crimson liquid. And yes, it was indeed, blood.

"Ah!" A feminine voice yelled, she sounds to be in pain, and then a loud thud was heard afterwards.

'_To hell with going in silently. I need to help her._' With that, the swordsman dashed down the pathway, sensing that threat is near, he puts his fingers on the trigger of his gun-blades. Seeing the only obstacle now was the tall trees, he decided to jump and ... Well, cut the trees down with his terrifyingly sharp dad-inherited blades, the next thing he saw was a clearing.

But, stretch your eyes further, and you can see a male figure with a sword on his hands, ready to strike down at a feminine figure. Noticing this, Niji's eyes widened immediately. Raising his gun-blades, and tilting the hilts by 45 degrees, he fired two straight blue beams at the male figure.

"Step away from her!" Barked the swordsman as his usual calm composure starting to fade from his stance.

Realizing that something headed his way, the male figure jolted away from the girl and used his swords to deflect the attack.

"Tch, he's also a swordsman, huh?" Tutted the blue haired magician. "Then!" He dashed forward, his gun-blades at their sword modes, "Let's see how'd you like **_THIS_**!" He charged at the figure, jumped, did a 360 roll in the air, not forgetting to coat his sword with blue-beam like sheath, slightly expanding the swords' size and length, he did a diagonal slash with his swords.

The figure dashed backwards to evade the swing, only to meet a straight blue beam heading towards his face. Gritting his teeth, the figure deflected the beam again. Noticing that he's been spotted anyway, the figure floated upwards.

"You're not getting away!" He fired two more beams from his gun-blades, now with his mechanism supporting him by firing a third beam towards the figure. The figure kept deflecting his attacks, however. "His swordplay is amazingly good, even deflecting my attacks." Muttered the half-Youkai softly as he continued to fire more and more Danmaku projectiles at the figure.

This time, the figure made a hand sign with his left hand, and he opens it up, with one deep breath, the figure yelled. "**_FALL!_**" A large force was pushed from his palm, literally pushing everything away, including the Danmakus.

"W-wait, what?!" Niji went wide-eyed as he saw the technique, then he realized that the attack's also heading straight for him. "Gah!" He yelled as he was also thrown away by the force. "N-not yet!" He dashed himself forward, recovering from the sudden attack. "You're not the only one that can use that attack!" He summoned a circle of light with his left hand and gave it a slight push. "**_KATSU!_**" A force with its power rivaling the first one was summoned and pushed immediately.

The figure used his hands to shield his body. Niji took this chance to fire a Danmaku at him, but instead of countering and / or evading, the figure ... Smiled at him. He made one last hand sign before the beam hit his body, and in an instant, he vanishes.

"W-what?!" Niji asked disbelievingly. "Where'd he go...?" He asked himself, spinning his head around, scanning the dark surroundings of the wood. With little to no lighting at all, Niji was quick to shift his gaze left and right, up and down at the same time. A silence sets in after that. No one, nothing, made any noise at all. He kept his strong grip on his swords, and he still assumed his fighting stance.

Only to be greeted by nothing. Niji slowly sets his swords down. "He ran away." He tutted in a very irritated manner. "Who is he? I've seen that swordsplay before, and he could also use the technique similar to what I'm using." Then his mind snaps back to reality, when he heard painful moans coming from his right side. "Oh right! The girl!"

Sheathing his swords, he ran back to the source of the voice, his path lighted up with only his sabers' beam coating. Less than a minute later, he arrived at the girl's location. What he saw afterwards was rather terrifying.

There's holes and cut marks everywhere, literally everywhere. there's also more blood literally spilled around the area.

He took a good look at the girl, which looks like someone around his physical age. She had a long silver hair that she tied up in a ponytail behind her, her silver eyes are almost lifeless, accompanied by those rapid breathing and occasional wheezes of pain. She wore an eboshi on top of her head, a Heian Era uniform with a short purple skirt that extends above her knees. Her back's leaned against a large tree, and of course, what she's wearing can't be considered a 'clothing' anymore, with the burnt marks and cuts all over the place.

* * *

_'What are you waiting for, son?! Help her!'_

* * *

Another flash rings inside Niji's mind. "W-what the hell was that...?!" He cringed as he puts a hand up to his forehead. But the voice's right. The swordsman began to examine the wounds visible on her body.

There were some deep cut wounds all over the place as well as some low degree burn wounds, blood literally coming out from all parts of her body, the crimson fluid seeps into her uniform. She's still breathing, but it was obvious. She needs help. NOW. RIGHT NOW. Niji, crouched by the girl, and puts a hand on her shoulder. It was obvious that she's not human, though. Maybe a Youkai of some sort. Still, he needs to help her.

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked slowly, shaking the girl to stay awake.

The girl turned her silver eyes slowly to the swordsman. "H-help." She spoke, voice trembling and all.

"Okay, just stay with me, alright? I'll get you out of here safely." Replied the magician as he thought quickly.

'_Well, it's obvious that I won't be leaving her here in the woods, and my medication skills are not good enough, only know how to stitch some wounds and all. Human village is not that far from here ... But considering it's already this late, I doubt any clinic will be open, and considering both of us look like a damn Youkai, we'll probably get kicked out from the village immediately. I could bring her to Alice-san's house ... Maybe that would do._'

"N-ngh..." The girl moaned in pain.

Niji snapped out of his thought immediately. "Hey, stay with me!" He shook the girl.

"C-cold." Was all the reply that came from her.

Without wasting anymore second, Niji untied his cloak and wrap the grey cloth around the girl's body. "Don't cash out on me now, you hear?! I'm going to get you out of here." He patted he shoulders a few times.

"... T-thank ..." Was all the word that came out from her mouth before she lost her consciousness.

"Hey! Stay with me!" Noticing that she's out cold, Niji checked for a pulse, it was faint, but it's there. "No time to think. Alice-san's house it is." He picked the girl in an awkward bridal style. It would be comical if it wasn't so life threatening. With one jolt of his body, he started to float upwards. After he gained enough speed, the swordsman used all the strength left on his body to dash out of the area and back to the puppeteer's house at a terrifying speed.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the blonde haired magician's house, Alice was sitting quietly at a chair with a book in hand. Every few minutes or so, she would look out from her window to see if someone's heading her way. Noticing there's no one out there, Alice sighed deeply as she sunk herself deeper into the book she's reading.

"It's getting late ... And he hasn't returned yet." She muttered to herself in concern.

"Alice-san!" A faint voice breaks through the silence, causing Alice to jolt upwards in a surprised manner, looking the window once more, the puppeteer realized that a figure is approaching her house at high speed, noticing that the figure is actually someone familiar to her, the magician jumped out of her chair and ran out from her house.

Niji arrived in front of her house, breathing heavily as he sets the girl down on the ground, still covered with his grey cloak. The swordsman himself slumped forward, with his knees first on the ground. The girl's still out cold.

"Niji-san!" Alice exclaimed, then lets out an alarming gasp as she saw the unconscious girl. She also managed to see dirts and such on the swordsman's clothes. "Are you okay?" She asked while running forward to him.

"I'm fine!" Replied the blue haired magician. "Although this girl needs help. I'll explain later, for now, we need to treat her wounds!"

Alice nodded. "A-alright."

With a nod back as a confirmation, both of the magicians brought the girl inside the house.

* * *

An hour or two has passed since Niji's sudden arrival at the puppeteer's house. Alice and her dolls have been treating the girl at Niji's room. The swordsman said she could use his room instead. Fortunately, Alice's skill in medication was at least better than him. She had been cleaning her wounds, and using the dolls to stitch the cuts up. Niji stayed outside, and was waiting restlessly at the living room, playing with his thumb and anxiously peeking his head up, waiting for the door to creak open.

Finally, after what it seems like an eternity, Alice opened the door. She had a very exhausted look on her face, like she's about to collapse anytime soon. There's some dried blood on her hands. Niji jumped immediately.

"How is she?" Asked the swordsman.

Alice sighed. "She'll be fine. The wounds aren't that bad, but I think it'll take some time before she could wake up."

Her fellow magician sighed in relieve. "Thank God." He stated out loud, before noticing the tired look on her face. "You okay?"

The blonde sits on the chair across him. "I think I should be the one who ask that. Are you alright, Niji-san?"

Niji nodded slowly. "I'll live." He said dismissively. "Just some minor bruises."

"Who is she, anyway? And where did you find her?"

"Well ..." Niji began to explain what happened at the forest, the 'false Danmaku fight', his meeting with the unknown swordsman and his short battle, as well as the girl. "I don't know who she is exactly, though."

Alice looks shocked after she heard the story. "There's another swordsman with a skill similar to yours, assaulting this girl?"

"Yeah. I wonder who he is ..." Niji clenched his fist in anger.

The puppeteer although looks a bit confused. "But, why didn't you bring her to the Eintei instead?"

"Ein-what now?"

"Eintei." Alice repeated the word. "It's a rather large clinic for the sick and wounded here in Gensokyo. It's located near the Bamboo Forest of the Lost." She explained.

"Bamboo Forest of What now?"

Alice sighed. "Nevermind." She said dismissively. "It's located pretty far from here, and it's already late. Let's not risk it. We might be attacked by the other hostile Youkais anyway. And considering my house's nearer, I think you made the right choice, Niji-san."

"..." Was all that came from the swordsman's mouth. "Yeah. Thanks for the help, by the way."

"Are you sure that you're alright? Your skin's paler than usual." Asked Alice with her usual flat-concerned tone.

"Alice-san, seriously, I'm fine. I'm just a bit tired." Niji waved her off. "You look tired yourself. Just go get some rest, I'll be fine on my own."

The puppeteer gave him a look. "But your bed's used by her-"

"I'll just sleep here at the chair. I think it's comfy enough as it is." Niji smiled warily, indicating that he's also tired. "No, I'm not sleeping at your room."

Alice was left dumbfounded at his sudden answer. "A-alright then." She said before heading to her own room. "Good night, Niji-san."

"Night." He said simply.

* * *

The lights are off, Niji rested his head on the couch with his eyes still open. He yawned a few times but he still couldn't sleep. His mind kept its focus on the mysterious man and the girl he just saved. Who is he? Who is she? Who's the bad guy here? How did the man use the same technique as he do? Their swordsplay's even similar to each other. Niji narrowed his eyes, irritated by the thought.

"At least you managed to save a life, Niji." He said to himself as he closed his eyes and let his consciousness fades to the dream world. He only had one question in mind though.

* * *

_Who the hell is she?_

* * *

**End of Chapter Five**

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Bla Bla Bla, YES, this is chapter five, of the Lost Colors series.

Introducing our favorite Shikaisen, Mononobe no Futo as one of the major characters in this story, Futo needs more love, people.

How'd you like Niji's Split consciousness? The thing on his shoulder is not just for show, guys. So the first one who noticed that the thing is actually moving on its own was Marisa, ironically. The mechanism also acts as a support Danmaku weapon, having stored his smaller five blades and can fire a projectile on its own, so basically, yeah. It's a sentient weapon, although Niji doesn't want to admit it. But, all things aside, if the mechanism doesn't move on its own, that means, a part of his consciousness 'died' inside that thing, so it's not just 'A container to preserve one's life', it's also 'A crucial thing that you must keep an eye out if you don't want a part of your body dies.'

Now let me explain why's Alice doesn't recognize the Shikaisen, I do believe that Miss Margatroid hasn't met her yet during the past incidents. I didn't see her interacting with one another during both Ten Desires and Hopeless Masquerade. So I guess it's fair that Alice doesn't know her. But please correct me if I'm wrong.

The main conflict of this story's just getting started guys, hold onto your butts! That's all for the chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed the story so far. Thanks for reading, and of course, Traesto! (:


	7. The Hermit's Stay

It's been a day or two, and the silver haired girl Niji saved hasn't regained her consciousness yet. Alice had sewed a new set of clothes for her to use when she woke up, for now, she's still lying down on the swordsman's bed, with her body in bandages. The puppeteer also removed her eboshi from her hair. The two magicians had cancelled all of their plans to return to the Scarlet Devil Mansion to tend to the girl's wounds.

Although the two had plans to move her to Eintei for better treatment, they finally dismissed the idea with the same reason as well, they're afraid the wounds on her body might open up again if they carry her all the way to Eintei. But, much to their surprise, she recovered rather quickly. All of the wounds have begun their regenerating process, much to their relieve. But still, she's not up yet, they could only fear that she's fallen into a comatose or something.

Well, until that one morning comes. Niji had just helped Alice with the dishes, until he forgot something.

"Oh right." He said suddenly, almost startling the puppeteer beside him.

Alice tilted her head to her side. "Hmm? Is something the matter, Niji-san?"

"I forgot my notebook at my room." He said with a dismissing tone.

With a rather laid back manner, he walked into his guest room, opening the door slightly, he peeked his head in, only to see the girl, still sleeping peacefully. With a sigh, he opens the door slowly and carefully, as if not wanting to wake her up. He made his way to the table, which is located near the window, he realized that the curtains're still closed, with his own initiative, he opened them, letting the fresh air as well as the warm sun to greet his pale body. He took one deep breath and stretched his body.

He picked his black notebook up from the table as well as a pen from the shelf, and made his way out of the room again, not forgetting to move his 'other partly consciousness' mechanism which is stored on the edge of the room. But, just before he close the door, he could hear someone mumbling from the inside of his room, getting wide eyed, Niji stormed back into his room.

"N-ngh ..." The silver haired girl flinched slightly.

The swordsman crouched besides the girl and puts a hand to her forehead. "She's not having a fever ..." Muttered him quietly. "Then, what's wrong-"

"C-Crown Prince ..." Was the word that escaped from her mouth, making Niji to raise his eyebrow in confusion.

'_Crown Prince?_' He repeated the words a few times. '_Who's this Crown Prince she's referring to?_' He asked himself in a silent manner.

"N-no, don't hurt her .. Please!" Her mumbling went louder than before, this time it sounded like she's ... Pleading to someone. "Just kill me instead ... Just ... Just don't hurt her, please ...!" She continued as a few beads of sweat escaped from her forehead.

Realizing that she's having a nightmare, there's a fairly good chance for her to gain her consciousness back. Niji began to shake her awake. "Hey, are you alright?" He asked with a rather soft tone, hoping to calm her down.

"No, please!" She's practically yelling by now.

Niji's eyes began to narrow. "Hey!" He said with a louder tone this time. "Wake up! It's only a nightmare!" He said as he plops himself to sit at the edge of the bed beside her.

"**_NO!_**" With that, her closed eyelids opened up wide, revealing her almost lifeless silver eyes again, her still bandaged body jolted upwards, launching herself to the nearest object or rather person, before her, Niji.

"W-wah?" Was all Niji could say before he could feel a sudden weight in his chest. "Gah!" He exclaimed, with arms flailing and all. It would be funny if it wasn't so dramatic, and awkward at the same time, his widened rainbow eyes slowly returned to its original size, as his breathing steadied itself to a normal rate. He perked his head down to see the shorter girl, with her face buried in his right shoulder.

He pushed the girl softly with both of his hands, so both of them could see each other's faces. There's a tear forming up on the girl's silver eyes, although life began to form up on the irises again, indicating that she is recovering, much to his relieve.

"Are you alright?" Niji asked again, with a softer tone, still with the hope of calming the girl down.

He didn't get the reply needed. "I ..." Was all she said, she scans the swordsman's room with her silver eyes, seeing that the surroundings were not familiar to her, she went confused, so confused that she started to cry, not loudly, but silently, only filled with sobs every now and then, her hands covering her face and all of that, with Niji in front of her with an unreadable expression on his face.

'_Damn it._' Was the thought that crossed Niji's mind, although he never really saw anyone weep in front of him before, the image before him was rather ... Difficult for him to bear. '_What should I do? What should I do? I can't just leave her crying like this._' He thought, with a bit of panic, as the girl won't stop crying. He thought about something that could comfort the girl, just something, anything, even.

Then, something crossed his mind, his body fidgets slightly as the thought echoed in his mind a few times. His turned his face away to hide his embarrassed look from the girl, although he didn't need to, since she's already covering her face and all that. He thought about it a few more times, and sighed in defeat. Knowing that it's probably the best thing to do anyway. I mean, it's not like everyday you would get mortally wounded and wake up in a place not familiar to you, right? This girl's been through a lot, that's for certain, he could even fell her pain.

"_You damn drama fics, I hate you all._" He muttered simply, before doing something rather unexpected. His arms slowly moving towards the girl's small frame, and with one last embarrassed thought, as fast as he could, he pulled her into a hug, shocking the silver haired girl, and for obvious reasons.

"E-eh?!" She squeaked and / or gasped with a quiet tone, as her hands now pulled down and her silver eyes widened again. She didn't move or push him away for some reason, maybe because she's too stunned and surprised to even do such a thing. "Wh-what ...?" She continued.

Niji, finally can't keep his emotions in check began to feel the blood rushing to his face. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." He spoke with the calmest tone he could muster, at the same time, fighting against his own emotions to push the blood down to his body instead to his cheeks. "You're alright. You're alright." He echoed the words silently.

The girl did nothing, she did ABSOLUTELY nothing. She didn't push him away, even after a few seconds of the awkward position. The two stayed like that for quite some time. Her crying had died down significantly, safe for a few sobs that still managed to escape from her mouth. Her face was also decorated with a slight pink tint on her cheeks, considering she had realized that her body's only covered by bandages.

Niji pulled himself from the girl, slowly, still with a slightly embarrassed face, although it quickly died down and his usual stoic composure returned to him. The silver haired girl was staring at him, maybe a little thoughtfully, with the soft-serious look on her face, which in turn Niji gave her his usual straight-poker face himself. Although almost audible, Niji could hear something from the girl that made him smile a real smile. Something that is never seen from him in like years.

* * *

_"Thank you."_

* * *

**Project Shrine Maiden : Lost Colors**

**Chapter Six : The Hermit's Stay**

* * *

"It's good to see that you're finally awake." Alice spoke, entering the room with a tray of food and drink in hand. "How are you feeling?" She asked sincerely, following behind her, is the swordsman with his usual white shirt on.

It's already late in the morning, and the sun's already high in the sky. Niji had told his fellow magician that the girl woke up from her 'almost-comatose'. Of course, the blonde was relieved to hear this. The two prepared a decent meal for her to eat, considering she hadn't eaten anything since she's out cold. The swordsman himself bought in her newly tailored clothes, made by the genius doll maker in front of him of course.

Her new clothing was relatively simple but had a resemblance from her old one, it's basically a Heian era uniform like shirt colored in a pale white color, using the design from the old one, with its sleeves made smaller and shorter, probably just extending to her shoulders instead of covering her whole arm, her short purple skirt didn't need to be re-tailored since there's only minor cuts, nothing that Alice can't fix with her amazing sewing ability.

The silver eyed girl, noticing the two's entry just gave them a smile and then continued with a nod. "Better, thank you." She replied, though her voice sounded sore. Understandable.

"I'm sorry, it's the only thing we have left." Alice apologized as she sets the tray down. The food was simple, really, just a warm soup with some potatoes and carrots inside with some freshly baked two pieces of bread, complete with its butter. There's a glass of water to accompany the breakfast. "We've been busy lately so we can't actually go to the Human Village to restock our supplies."

Niji puts the clothes down on the table and plops himself to a wooden chair. His face neutral as always. "So, we haven't really got ourselves to be properly acquainted, yeah? My name's Niji Heika, the Spectral Swordsman, and that over there is Alice Margatroid, the Seven Colored Puppeteer. It's nice to meet you, uh ..." Yeah, he didn't ask her name whatsoever.

"**Futo, Mononobe no Futo. The Shikaisen from Ancient Japan**." She replied, before taking the glass of water. She took one loud sip, and coughed once. "I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused."

Alice shook her head and gave her a knowingly smile. "It's of no concern to us, Futo-san."

"Easy on the drink there, Futo-san." The swordsman suggested. "But, the term Shikaisen ... So, that means you're a-"

Futo nodded. "Yes, I am a Hermit." She paused slightly before continuing. "May I ask where I am right now? Am I at the location called Eintei?" She asked, her silver eyes still scanning the surroundings, Niji was rather surprised to hear such words came from her. She's actually using old and formal English / Japanese [Which one do you prefer, I don't know]. Almost literally speaking in Shakespearan.

Both of her hosts shook their heads. "No." Alice replied. "You're at my house at the Forest of Magic."

"I see." Once again, she paused. "May I ask how long have I've been out cold?" She asked again this time sounding a bit uneasy, though.

"About two days." This time, the blue haired magician came with the answer.

Futo abruptly stopped her drink and looked over to the two magicians with a surprised face. "T-two day cycles?" She asked herself. "O-oh no ... Then the Crown Prince must be- ngh!" The hermit tried to move herself, only to flinch in pain.

Alarming her hosts, Alice immediately tucked her back into Niji's bed. "Don't do it, you're in no condition to move yourself just yet."

"But-" Futo tried to protest, but instead, she was cutoff by Niji.

"Like it or not, Alice-san's right, Futo-san. You still need some rest, or else those wounds might open up again." Sighed Niji as he sits down again on his wooden chair. "Trust us, we're not the bad guys here."

Although a bit reluctant, Futo sighed sadly. "I..." Was all that came from her mouth. "I suppose both of you are right." She relents, both of the magicians sighed in relieve. "But still, my body can't rest easy if that man still roams freely around Gensokyo."

"That man?" Alice asked, while Niji cringed.

The swordsman narrowed his eyes as he remembered last night's events. "Oh yeah, about last night, could you tell us what happened exactly?"

Futo kept her mouth shut and looked away hesitantly for some odd reasons. Alice and her fellow magician exchanged glances for a few seconds, with a nod they decided not to get to the point first. The poor girl needs a rest, and that's what she'll get.

"Better eat up, by the way. Soup's getting cold." Niji pointed out to the white bowl in front of the Shikaisen.

Futo. slowly but surely, looked back to her hosts, with one last weak smile, she nodded. Gingerly picking up the spoon, the Shikaisen began to drink the warm liquid, halfway on the soup, she decided to taste the bread, then continue on with the soup. Once it's all finished, Futo finished the rest of the drink from the glass. Putting the dishes away neatly, she once again smiled at the magicians.

"Thank you for the food, Niji-san, Alice-san." She bowed down slightly. "Again, sorry for the trouble and inconvenience I caused when I was out cold."

Both the swordsman and the puppeteer nodded. "It's no trouble, really." Niji raised his hand to wave the topic off, Alice agreed to his comment as well by silently nodding to him.

"Then I suppose we should let you rest. Niji-san, could you help me with the dishes?" Alice asked, pointing to the door with her thumb.

The half-Youkai nodded once, acknowledging her request. "Sure." He replied simply. "Oh, and Futo-san, your new clothes're here at the table, you might ... Want to put them on." He continued.

"O-oh ... Right, certainly. Thank you, Niji-san." The short hermit stammered out.

* * *

Niji and Alice're chattering about their magic research again at the house's living room. Niji, for once, looked a bit more alive than usual, much to Alice's relieve and surprise. He's quite sociable today, for some reason, she guessed that the fact that he just saved a life was enough for them anyway. But, also for some obvious reasons, the two looked more paler and tired. Understandable, they'd been treating Futo's wounds for two days straight.

Niji took the worst impact, the puppeteer hypothesized, since he had to fought the mysterious swordsman in the woods, he had to carry Futo all the way to her house, and he had to sleep at the chair instead on his usual comfortable bed. Yeah, he took the worst share. Both the young looking magicians then suddenly stopped their talk and went silent for some reason.

The silence stayed that way for a couple of minutes, the two just enjoyed the panorama offered from the puppeteer's house's windows. Neither of the two continued their topic of conversation. This time, the silence felt so right. It's not uneasy or awkward like their past times. The peaceful and tranquility was just making the sightseeing more perfect.

That is going to stay that way, until the door of Niji's room creaked open, and a certain silver haired Shikaisen slowly peeking her head up. Both of the magicians noticed the shorter hermit's presence, and immediately stood up from their own seats.

"Futo-san!" Exclaimed Alice, walking over to her.

Of course, with Niji following closely behind her. "Hey, you're not supposed to move on our own yet."

The Shikaisen sighed, fully opening the door to reveal that she's already wearing her new clothes, but she didn't wear her eboshi for some reason. This Made both of the magicians stop walking and instead taking a good look at her.

"It looks good on you." Both of them said at the same time.

Futo, noticing that the comment was actually a compliment looked away from the taller Youkai-class magicians, unseen by them, she was smiling. "Well, thank you." She replied to them a bit hesitantly. She walked over to the main living room of the house, although she seems to be kind of limping, instead of walking. There's still some bandages visible on her arms and legs, though.

"Are you sure that you're alright, Futo-san?" Alice asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

"I'm alright, really." She gave a nod of confirmation to the puppeteer.

The three then found themselves sitting at the room's chairs, facing each other, almost like doing a three-way battle. Futo spins her head around, looking around the house she's still unfamiliar with.

"So, what brings you here, Futo-san?" Niji asked as he rested his hands on the table.

Futo fidgets a bit at that question. "I ... I want to tell both of you about what happened 2 day cycles before this day."

Then, there's that uneasy silence again.

"Futo-san, are you sure?" Alice asked yet again. "It's okay if you don't want to. Some people rather have their past remained-"

"I'm sure. I think it's better for all of us if I let it all out now. Besides, I'm sure that both have been wondering what exactly happened to me as well, right?" The Shikaisen smiled sadly at the two. "I'll take your silence as a yes, then."

* * *

_If both of you don't who am I exactly or where did I come from, I'm a Shikaisen that hails from the Halls of Dreams' Great Mausoleum. The palace is located below the Myouren Temple's graveyard, but I'm sure that both of you have already heard of that name, yes? Well, basically, the halls have some permanent residences, such as myself, but there are the others, though. I'm fairly certain that both of you would probably heard this name before, but these are the main residences of the Great Mausoleum._

_**Toyosatomimi no Miko**, The Crown Prince, I'm her servant and also her ally. Both of us were actually Humans that have been reborn to live as Hermits. And I'm sorry for the Ten Desires incident caused by her that happened about a year ago._

_**Soga no Tojiko**, she's a friend of mine, and a fellow ally to the Crown Prince, she's a ghost, actually, and she's existed for more than 1400 years, just like me and Miko-sama._

_Oh, please, don't give me that surprised look. Yes, we hermits live long, and maybe will continue to live eternally. And yes, Niji-san, I'm older than I look. There're some more residences at the mausoleum, but both of them also hangs around in other areas such as the Myouren Temple and such._

_It all started on a simple day, everything was going at a relatively slow pace. It was peaceful, really. Well, until we heard news that an intruder managed to break into the mausoleum. And he appears to be armed. We feared that he might be going for Miko-sama's or rather, Prince Shoutoku's Seven Star Sword. Since it's a very valuable treasure to us, Tojiko and I heightened the mausoleum's security._

_Despite, this, the man managed to break through. Seeing his hostile intentions, we decided to fight back. But, his powers were literally inhuman, his swordplay was ... Monstrous, deflecting all of our Danmakus, and we're even fighting at our full strength. His Spell Cards and techniques were something new, too. We haven't seen any of his moves before, even with our over 1400 years of experience. He was ... fighting like a demon. He's obviously not a human nor a Youkai. He's definitely something else._

_Is something wrong, Niji-san? Your face went a bit paler ... Are you sure? ... Alright, I'll continue with my story._

_Within minutes, he managed to defeat both me, and Tojiko. His overwhelming power was just too much for us to handle. Miko-sama decided to handle with the matter first hand, but despite her valiant efforts, the man still managed to defeat her. He used his cloning technique, and about five other copies of him were summoned out of thin air. And yes, he is indeed aiming for the Seven Star Sword. We decided to make our last stand. Tojiko, Miko-sama and myself were about to fight until our last breath until ..._

_N-Niji-san? Are you sure that you're alright? You don't look so good ... See? Even Alice-san agrees with me ... Are you sure? ... Are you REALLY sure that you're okay? ... A-alright ..._

_... Miko-sama, she ordered me to get out of the mausoleum to find help. Of course I disagree with the idea. Why would I leave her? I'd rather die there than run away at the first place. But, one of the other residences, **Seiga Kaku**, dragged me out of the mausoleum, and threw me into the distant skies. With a heavy heart, I had no choice, the gate back to the mausoleum was sealed from the inside._

_I was just about to ask the Myouren Temple for help, only to see the place already burned to the ground, I tried to look for any survivors, but no one made a noise, just the hot blazing flame that's still burning the grand temple down. I was just about to give up and head into the Human Village, until I realize that one clone managed to escape from the sealed gate._

_Seeing that I can't fight him, not with the power I had left, I decided to run, I don't even know where am I running to. I just ... Ran for my life, I suppose. I flied to the North to the Human Village, so maybe their guards can help me, but mid-flight, he managed to catch up to me, seeing that I won't be able to run anyway, I fought him with all of the strength I had inside my body._

_Of course ... Maybe, you'll know the rest, Niji-san, and I suppose you he'd already told you the story, right, Alice-san?_

* * *

A nod came from both of the magicians. They seemed to be cold-sweatdropping after hearing Futo's story. Futo herself, was at the verge of tears when she's telling them her story. Niji looked like he's going to puke any second, with that pale face and all that.

"So, that guy who attacked you, your mausoleum, as well as the Myouren Temple's the same guy?" Niji asked, Futo once again nodded. "And he's also a swordsman, that aims for Miko-san's Seven Star Sword?"

"Correct, why do you ask, Niji-san?" Futo's reply was somewhat curious.

Niji cringed. "Considering the swordplay, his technique and his skills to even match my offensive attacks ... I think I know this guy you're talking about."

As expected, both the puppeteer and the Shikaisen's eyes went wide their mouths're slightly open and tilted. Futo's reaction was also almost immediate, despite her pain, the hermit jolted up from her seat and stared at the swordsman expectantly.

"Y-you know him?!" Futo slammed her still bandaged hands into the wooden table, only to regret it the second she did that. "O-ow."

The swordsman once again, cringed. "I ... I think, this guy is ... **One of the members of the Seven Swordsmen** ... Or maybe, to be even more precise, he's the **Sixth Sword / Sword of Six**, **Seis Huggare**."

While Futo gave him a confused look, Alice's reaction was immediate, she gasped with her hands hovering over her mouth, with her eyes widening. "Y-you mean, he's a member from your order of swordsmen?"

"I don't know, it's just a guess. But, one of the ability I know was taught by him, and he used that same ability to fight me two days ago. His swordplay is like what Futo-san described. He's like a demon wielding a cutlass, ready to cut your head off. His fighting style's really aggressive, and, although he only wields one sword in his hands, he could clone himself to 5 other copies, thus earning him his title ... B-but, the Seis-san I knew isn't like that. Although he could get rough at times, he doesn't attack people without a reason." Explained the blue haired magician as he wipes a bead of sweat from his forehead.

Futo looks unimpressed. "Then explain me why did he burn the Myouren Temple to the ground and attacked our mausoleum."

"As I said, this is just a guess." Niji pouted thoughtfully. "But I've seen his swordplay myself two days ago ... Both of them are really alike. I didn't see his figure, though. The darkness shrouding his body's making me hard to see. Futo-san, what does he look like anyway?"

"Well ... I think, he wore a black colored trench coat over a red shirt, he had a short black hair with colorless irises. He's ... Well, really tall." Considering how short Futo is, she seems to be hesitating on saying the word 'tall'. "He carried a strange looking sword in his hands."

"You got it right on the cutlass, but the description of his physical appearance doesn't really match him. He's tall, yes, but I've never seen him wearing any of those things. So, pretty much, we're still in the dark, really." Niji shook his head twice, and sighed with his lack of knowledge to solve the situation.

Alice seems to be pondering at thought. "Well, I could check the Myouren Temple for any clues."

"That seems to be a good idea, but considering this guy's dangerous, and just for the sake of precaution, just in case that he's still wondering at the temple, I think we should go together. For now, we'll wait for Futo-san's recovery." At her fellow magician's suggestion, Alice reluctantly agreed with him.

* * *

The plan to investigate the ruins of the Myouren Temple is set. A team consisted of Alice, Niji, and of course, Futo will go to the remnants of the temple, also in hope to search for survivors. Futo kept on insisting that she's fine, although her hosts disagreed, saying that she still needs some rest before charging back into the temple. It would be suicide.

The day passed rather quickly. Niji had insisted Futo to stay at his room for the night, considering that she'll need all the rest she can get. It's already nighttime and Alice had gone to bed early. Understandable, since she sewed Futo's new clothing for two days straight as well as tending to her wounds. Niji, on the other hand, was just sitting on the main living room's chair a book in hand, and a glass of warm milk in the other.

"Drinking milk is childish they said. Hmph." He said to himself as he took another sip, his eyes occasionally peeking to see the dark Gensokyan skies. It's a bit cloudy tonight, so there's only a bit of stars present to light the land up, heck, maybe even none.

It's the Shikaisen's first night, and things have already started to escalate pretty quickly. Not a kind Niji was hoping at all. But with all things aside, his mind was only focused on one thing, that unknown swordsman. Seeing that he's thinking about it too much, the magician sighed, and rechecked the schedule for tomorrow.

Since it's too dangerous to leave Futo alone in her state now,and the fear that she's being targeted by whoever attacked her mausoleum, they'll have no choice but to bring her with them to the Scarlet Devil Mansion tomorrow, their original plans were to meet with Patchouli and to return her book, but now, they'll probably ask for their input on this situation. Probably it's not going to be much, but it should do.

"_Seis Huggare_." Muttered Niji as he slowly clenched his free hand into a fist.

* * *

**End of Chapter Six**

* * *

**Author's Notes**

And here's chapter six! Yay me for updating quickly, lol?

Oh yeah, thank you all for the first 1000 views of this story! You guys are awesome! I mean, achieving 1000 views in just a month, wow, thanks again, guys :)

Yay for 4th wall breaking during the intro! And I made Futo short, so don't get mad at me. But judging from her sprite from Hopeless Masquerade, her sprite's height didn't really show that she had the proper height. Oh, and I know that Futo speaks in Shakespearan, but since I suck at speaking his language of 'thou thee, thy' and etc, I decided to let Futo speak with a modern language, although with the weird sayings such as 'the day cycle', and such.

* * *

Oh yeah, I forgot to explain Niji's attack catchphrase, which is "**_KATSU!_**" Well ... Uh, I don't really know, that word really just popped up in my mind while I was making this thing, but I think, Katsu can mean two things

- Katsu : A Japanese culinary if you're looking for comical references.

- ba_**K**_uh**_ATSU_** : Bakuhatsu is the Japanese for explosion, Katsu is merely Niji's '_slang_' to the word, shortening it up into the word of '_Katsu_'. I think Bakuhatsu and Katsu sounds kinda alike if they're spoken at a fast tempo, which is pretty typical for a Japanese.

* * *

Okay, so from far too much drama fics reading, I hope you don't mind if I did that to her in the beginning of the chapter, right? ... Right?

_Don't kill me._

Also, I hope you don't mind that in this fic someone burned Myouren Temple to the ground. It's just for drama-ish purposes only, and of course, you don't have to worry about its residences.

_Don't kill me._

Then, I apologize for making Seiga and Yoshika a minor character, they'll have their part but not much. sorry.

_Don't kill me._

Well, that's it! I hope you enjoyed the story so far, thanks for reading, guys. And not forgetting my cue to leave, **スペクトラム クロス ! ! ! **I mean, Traesto.

* * *

And lastly, NO, I haven't forgot about Eastern Fantasy, the update will be coming just a little late, that's all.


	8. To the Mansion and Back

The next morning, Niji found himself still sitting at the chair, as expected, but when his hazy vision began to clear up, what he saw next surprised him. He felt… Warm and comfortable, for some odd reason. When his closed eyelids fluttered open, the first thing he saw and felt was a soft and warm sheet. He moved his hand over to the soft sheet, and immediately assumed that it was a blanket.

It's still kind of early, maybe about 7 in the morning, well, it's good enough for a morning person. Or so Niji thought…

He averted his gaze to take in the complete view of the room. The dolls were already doing the housework, Although their master's nowhere to be seen. Futo was sitting at a chair across him, staring into the somewhat cloudy skies, she seems to be getting better after a good night's rest. Pushing the white blanket away, Niji gained the attention of the Skikaisen.

The magician folded the sheet into a nice set of square, which somewhat impresses Futo. He stood up from the chair, with his knees trembling. Well, sitting on a chair for a good 6 hours isn't exactly good for your feet. The swordsman used planted his right hand on the table to use it as a support for his weight. Dusting off his usual white dress shirt, he finally sat down on the chair again.

"Morning, Futo-san." He greeted, waving lowly to her.

Futo nodded as a reply. "Good morning to you as well."

Just about then, Alice entered the room with her tome in hand and already on her clothes. "I see that you're up, Niji-san."

"Yeah." Niji hummed lightly. "But, who put this blanket on top of me?" He asked quizzically, raising an eyebrow in the process as well as tilting his head to his left. "I mean, it's not like I don't appreciate it, really, but…" He trailed off.

Futo smirked as she shifted her silver orbs to her left, pointing towards Alice. "Well, Alice-san here woke up early today, and she…" She didn't finish her sentence. She didn't need to. Her answer was already blunt and enough for the two magicians to gave her their surprised look.

At the cued answer, Alice, as well as all of the working dolls at the house fidgets slightly. The blonde puppeteer looked a bit flustered, and for some reason, her dolls followed suit. Niji himself, noticing the sudden awkward moment, began to feel embarrassed about it, and he slouched in his seat.

"I… Well…" Alice tried to deny it, but considering Futo's telling the truth anyway, she couldn't do anything to deny the actual fact at the first place. She sighed. "I just… Thought that were cold, I mean, you're sitting beside the open window." She reasoned.

Ah, a smart comeback, Alice. Although Niji could feel something was off in her voice, he waved it off casually with his ever monotone calm voice. "Well, um… Thanks, I guess. Appreciate it."

Alice breathed out a sigh. "Well, we're about to go the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I have to return the books that I've borrowed from Patchouli-san a while ago. You're coming right?" She asked, also changing the topic from the previous conversation.

"Well, of course." Niji answered, standing up from his seat once again. "Let me get ready for a minute or two." He added. "And, Futo-san, I think it would be best if you come with us. We should be able to ask them some for some input for this current situation as well."

"Say no more words, Niji-san, Alice-san." Futo put a hand up. "I'm going as well."

With one last nod from the rainbow-eyed magician, he went inside his room to pick his vest as well as his weapons. A simple sprinkle of water to his head managed to cool his face off, and finally after grabbing a piece of toast from the table, the swordsman joins the two at the front door of the house.'

"Alright, ready. Sorry for the wait." Chimed the swordsman, breaking the small chatter between his fellow magician and the hermit beside her.

"It's of no concern, really." Came Alice's simple reply, before locking the door with her key. "Ready, Futo-san?"

The silver haired Shikaisen nodded and gave a small smile to her hosts. "Ready. Lead the way, Alice-san." She began to float upwards. "And don't worry about me. I think my body already permits me to fly again." She added, making sure that Alice and Niji won't ask her another question with their concerned tone.

"Alright. Let's go." With that one last nod, the trio took their flight to the vampire's mansion.

* * *

**Project Shrine Maiden : Lost Colors**

**Chapter Seven : To the Mansion and Back**

* * *

The flight to the Scarlet Devil Mansion was somewhat calm. Of course, occasional chatters would erupt between the three, but they didn't last long enough to create a good conversation. Providing Futo doesn't really know the way, and of course due to her recovering process, the two magicians slowed their flight speed into a much more considerable rate.

Not about an hour later, the trio arrived before the grand and massive structure located just at the side of the Misty Lake. Futo looks somewhat amazed at the sight before her eyes, and maybe even a bit overwhelmed by the huge size of the mansion, it would be so grand and elegant if it wasn't so creepy looking from the outside.

"Wow, I've heard of this location before, but I've never really been here before." She commented. "I've never thought that it would be so big in size."

Niji only chuckled lightly at the Shikaisen's chime. "Trust me, Futo-san. My comment was surely similar as yours when I first saw the mansion."

The chuckle was returned from the Shikaisen, Alice couldn't help but to let out a chuckle out from her mouth as well. The three made their way to the main gate of the mansion, but something was a bit off. Meiling's there. But she seems to be… Asleep. Niji and Futo raised an eyebrow, dumbfounded by the image before them. The red haired gatekeeper was resting her back on the wall, small snores were coming out from her, and she seems to be drooling.

"I-is she asleep?" The swordsman asked, pointing his index finger to the green-clad guardian of the Scarlet Devil's residence.

Alice gave a nod to him. "Well, yes. It's a bit of a bad habit of her… Aside from overprotecting the mansion and taking her job WAY TOO seriously. But with her sleeping like this, at least we don't have to do another Danmaku battle with her. It would be too troublesome."

Futo looks confused instead. "Uum… Excuse me, but… What?"

"Well, Meiling-san here's the gatekeeper for the mansion. Although she takes her job very seriously, by I mean seriously, I mean attacking every single thing trying to enter the mansion's premises, she had this strange habit, which is sleeping on the job, like what you two are seeing right now. We're fortunate enough for her to be asleep at this hour, because, as I said before, fighting Danmaku with her would be too troublesome." The puppeteer explained.

Both Niji and the Shikaisen beside him gave her an 'oooh', but Niji was the first to comment. "Point taken on the last part."

"I… I see." Continued by Futo. "I wonder though… If she's taking her job seriously, then why's she sleeping on her own given task like this?"

"Now that… I also wonder." Alice chuckled lightly, before shifting her head to the building. "Well, let's head in then."

The swordsman and the hermit gave one simple nod to her. The three welcomed themselves into the mansion area by simply flying over the locked gate in front of them.

* * *

Inside the mansion, there's the usual eerie feeling, and the red carpet covered ceramic as the flooring, oh there's the stone statues and the elegant furnishings. The trio made their way through the long and seemingly endless hallways of the elegant structure. Of course, encountering some fairy maids along the way. As usual, the flying creatures only gave them a small but respectful smile and continued to fly away from them, exchanging chatters between them.

Although Alice and Niji seemed to look unnerved by this, Futo seems to be feeling uneasy for some reason, her silver eyes jolting left and right as she fidgets slightly as she walked along the hallways. Of course, this didn't go unnoticed by her hosts.

"You're not claustrophobic… Are you?" Asked the swordsman.

"_Claustrophobic_?" Both Alice and Futo asked him back in a perfect synchronization. Niji gave them a look as if they just asked the most obvious question in the world. Then he realized that medical term is not exactly familiar in use there. The swordsman facepalmed

He sighed. "Claustrophobic is the fear of enclosed spaces." He explained with that short sentence.

"Well, certainly, I do not have that… Clas… Clause… Klasphoba…" Futo replied, although still oblivious to the unfamiliar word.

"Claustrophobia." Niji corrected. "Don't worry. I often get tongue tied myself every time I said that."

"Right. That word. I just feel a bit uneasy when those fairy maids gave us that look."

Alice patted the shorter hermit's back. "It's alright, Futo-san. The maids here are not hostile. I'm certain that they won't attack unless they're told to."

"Speaking of maid… I haven't seen Izayoi-san." Niji chimed, spinning his head around to search for the silver haired maid.

"Well… I haven't seen her either. I wonder where she is…" Hummed the puppeteer. "Ah, she's probably serving Remilia-san right now." She dismissed the thought with that.

"Remilia? Who's she?" Asked Futo and Niji.

"Well, she's the master of this mansion. She's also the vampire who caused the Scarlet Mist incident, about some years ago. I'm sure both of you have heard of it before." Explained the puppeteer.

Both of them fidgets slightly as they let a cold sweat to drop from their forehead.

"Well, where are going now?" Futo questioned, her eyes still scanning the massive hallway filled with ancient furnishings from the 18th century.

"We're going to the Voile Library. There's a fellow magician there that maybe could help us with this problem." Alice answered swiftly.

Futo nodded once.

* * *

After about a short walk to the Voile Library, the finally entered the huge room filled with ten-story high bookshelves. Once again, Futo was taken aback by the sudden sight before her eyes. Keep this up and maybe her poor mind will break down anytime soon.

"O-oh dear." She whimpered with a low volume, but this one doesn't go unheard, as chuckles began to erupt from the two magicians in front of her, the Shikaisen frowns, but sighed knowingly as she lets a chuckle to escape from her mouth as well. "So, this Patchouli, who is she exactly?"

"She's a fellow magician like us, and also the librarian for this huge room." Niji answered. "Don't worry, we can trust her."

After another short walk to the center part of the library, they finally found the Unmoving Great Library herself, Patchouli Knowledge, with her usual bored and / or dull expression plastered on her face, and of course with books on her hands. Feeling unnoticed by her, the group walked closer to the librarian. Niji wondered on how most magicians have the same 'stoic-bored-dull-calm' personality within them. Well… Maybe except Marisa.

"Patchouli-san?" Alice asked after finally getting into hearing range, shifting her head slightly to see the fellow magician's face clearly, the said librarian twitched her brows as she picks the sudden voice calling for her name up with her ears.

The natural-class magician peeked her head up from the book she's currently reading to find the trio. "Ah, Niji-san, Alice-san. It's good to see both of you again." She greeted without changing the dull expression on her face, then her purple eyes picked an eyeful of silver hair. "Oh, and who might you be?" That question's directed to our favorite smug-face Shikaisen. [Yes, I just wrote that, it's just irresistible. Don't kill me.]

"Mononobe no Futo, but you can just call me Futo. It's a pleasure to meet you, Patchouli-san." The hermit introduced herself.

Patchouli only gave a miniscule smile. "Likewise." She replied. "Now, what brings the three of you here?"

"Well, Alice-san here wants to return these books to their rightful owner." Niji casually pointed his thumb to his fellow blonde haired magician, in which at his given cue, Alice took a few steps forward and put the books at the librarian's table.

"Ah, I see. It's good to see someone actually thinking about returning the books." Patchouli sighed, Niji quickly assumed that she's talking about Marisa, with her 'borrowing' habits.

The swordsman rolled his eyes at the sudden hypothesis that popped up inside his mind. Killing the thought, he remembered the research the librarian's supposed to be having. "And, I do believe we have something to talk about."

At this, Patchouli's face went blank, as if trying to process what's just said by the half-Youkai to her. After a few seconds, the same bored expression lit up her face again. "Ah yes. About that, if you'd follow me please. I'd rather discuss this matter over at my study room." She closed her book and stood up from her seat.

"Of course. BRB, guys." He nodded , turning his face to Alice and Futo, they only gave him a look of utter confusion. "B. R. B." He said in a slower tempo. "Be. Right. Back."

"Oh." Both of them replied simply at the same time, causing the swordsman to sigh deeply.

_'I should really stop using modern language.'_

* * *

Once more, Niji found himself at Patchouli's Study hall. Observing the place carefully, the half-Human could see some famous magic books scattered around the area. It was understandable, really. The glimpse made a sudden tempt to urge inside his body, telling him to read them. But he relents.

"Please, take a seat." Patchouli's voice snapped the swordsman out of his thought. Shaking his head once to kill the remnants of the heretic ideas, he nodded and took a seat beside the purple haired magician.

Clearing his throat, he finally spoke up. "So… Uh, I assume that you're done with your research?" He asked with a somewhat hoping tone.

Although, his sudden question made the librarian's face to drop slightly. He could only assume that she won't be telling him any good news. "Unfortunately, no." As expected, really. Patchouli pulled the swordsman's spell book out of her pouch. "The codings were much more complex than I thought it would be."

"Hmm." Hummed Niji as he took the book back into his hands. Sliding the Spell Card-filled notepad into his small courier bag, he cleared his throat yet again. "So, so far, you've found nothing?"

"I wouldn't say that if I were you." She pouts. "While it's really difficult to decipher the coded Spell Cards, I did learn something. Some of these Spell Cards were actually made specifically just for you to use."

Almost choking, Niji jolted forward. "W-what?"

"Yes. There're notes scattered throughout the pages of the book. I could see your name coded specifically on some cards. Although I don't know how or why the creator of the book created it." She explained.

"My name… It was mentioned?" He asked, pulling out the book once more from his bag.

Patchouli nodded. "The Spell Cards were all heavily ciphered and I couldn't decode them. Not even with the help of my books. I'm sorry."

"No, you're not the one to blame at all, Patchouli-san." Niji stated as he pondered thoughtfully. '_But that would be technically impossible. Since the last guy to carry this book around was my dad… Wait… Don't tell me… He's…_' Thought the swordsman. He cringed during the last part.

"Niji-san?" Patchouli asked, once again, snapping her fellow magician out of his mind.

Successfully gaining his attention, Niji shook his head. "I'm okay. Don't ask." He answered plainly. "So… That's the only thing that you know for now?"

"I'm afraid yes."

"Then, say no more. Thanks for all of your help, Patchouli-san. I appreciate your support to help me decipher this book. Although I think I'm yet to reach the full potential Spell Cards in this thing." Niji stood up and bowed down slightly to the librarian. "For now, I think we should return the library. There're more pressing matters at hand, and I think my Spell Book can wait."

Although the said magician looks a bit quizzed, she nods, acknowledging the request. "Of course."

* * *

The two arrived at the great Voile Library. And what the saw was as expected. Books and their shelves literally everywhere, almost blocking the sun's light. Safe for Alice and Futo, chattering at the nearby table. Niji and his fellow purple haired magician approached them.

"We're done, for now. Sorry for the wait." He waved to the two.

Alice and Futo, noticing the two magicians' entry to the area, gave a welcoming nod to them.

"It's no problem to us, really. We're just chatting anyways." Alice replied, giving a small smile to him, before turning her face into her usual stoic expression as always. "But now, into a more urgent matter. Is Remilia-san available right now?" She asked.

Patchouli raised an eyebrow. "Remi? I suppose she is, yes. From what I've heard, she's also interested in meeting you first hand, Niji-san."

"Me?" Niji pointed a finger to himself.

Just as he said that, the group could feel a sudden presence inside the library. Patchouli kept her usual dull look, Alice and Futo could be seen fidgeting slightly, while Niji was probably the most alerted by the presence almost pulled out his gun-blades.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Niji-san." A voice chimed in from behind them, making the four turned their heads around to face the source of the voice. Then the image of Sakuya Izayoi came into their eyes. The maid walked gracefully to them.

"Sakuya, I think you're scaring our guests." Sighed the librarian.

Sakuya bowed down to them. "Please forgive me for my sudden entry. But Patchouli-sama's right. The mistress would like to see you. I think the circumstances made it possible for us to do that, correct?" She asked.

"Umm, Yeah?" Niji replied hastily.

"Perfect timing, Izayoi-san. We need to see Remilia-san right about now anyway." Alice jumped into the conversation. "It's about the recent events."

"About the Myouren Temple? Then I suppose we should head to her room now." Stated the maid before noticing the Shikaisen's presence. "And who are you?"

"Futo. Mononobe no Futo of the Hall of Dreams' Great Mausoleum." Futo stated. "I'm also here to discuss about the recent incidents regarding my home and Byakuren-san's temple."

"Right. Now, let us head to the mistress's room. And please don't be so loud. The young mistress is sleeping at the basement right now." Sakuya walked to the exit door of the great library.

"Young mistress?" Futo asked.

"I'm pretty sure she's referring to Flandre-kun. I assume she's the younger sister of this Remilia person." Niji replied.

"And you're correct Niji-san. And you might want to treat carefully. Flandre-kun is not like your usual Gensokyo residence." Alice added. And both of the magicians could only put up their uneasy faces for Futo to see, much to her confusion.

* * *

Then, more walk happened. This time, since Sakuya isn't the person to always stop and chat, it went pretty awkward. Some petty conversations still broke up courtesy of Futo and Alice, not standing the awkward silence. Of course these didn't go that far, since the eerie atmosphere didn't let them at the first place.

The group finally arrived before a large white door. It's handles shining gold. I mean REAL gold. Even Alice was taken aback by this. The door gave out a somewhat threatening and intimidating aura, which made the three to fidget slightly. Of course, Sakuya was left unfazed by the aura and knocked on the door instead.

"Mistress? You have guests." She said simply. Then, there's silence, maybe waiting for the appropriate reaction from the inside. A muffled and nearly inaudible response was heard from the inside of the room. "She said that it's okay for you all to come in now."

And with that, the large door swung open, letting out a loud, near deafening, screeching creak. The door itself slammed into the walls, startling the guests. If the door's purpose was to inflict extreme fear to the ones who opened it, then it certainly did an amazing job. Alice and Futo were trembling, while Niji had to take a step forward, once again, with his overprotective personality kicking into his mind.

"Don't be alarmed." A sudden voice with its tone's a mixture of teasing, playful, serious, and somewhat childish sounded off from the rotating chair inside the room. Niji had his hands at his gun-blades the whole time, his eyes narrowed and all. "I won't bite." She continued with an intimidating tone.

About a few seconds later, the chair turned over to face the group. And what Niji saw was rather unexpected to say the least. It's a girl. A young girl, to be exact. She looks like a ten year old child. She had a short pale-light-violet colored hair, and piercing scarlet eyes. She wore a light scarlet night mob cap with a small red ribbon tied to its right side, she also wore a matching colored night gown with its skirt extending just before it reaches her knees. There's two bat wings sticking out from her back as well as fangs on her mouth.

She's a vampire. And she's also older than looks.

But, there was silence.

"Why aren't you people scared?!" She yelled, irritated.

On second thought, scratch that 'she's older than she looks' theory. Maybe she's just as she is right now.

"Um… Good afternoon, Remilia-san." Alice spoke up, breaking the awkward silence. "It's, uh… Good

The vampire girl cleared her throat after hearing Alice's chime. "Well, it certainly do, Alice." She replied her scarlet eyes then fell upon the two newcomers. "Ah, you there, the boy. You must be Niji, am I correct?" Came the silent nod, courtesy of the swordsman. "I've heard of you from Meiling… And you there, the girl. Who are you?"

Futo must be getting tired, introducing herself for three times in less than a day. "I'm Futo, hailing from the Halls of Dreams' Great Mausoleum. Pleasure to meet you."

The vampire chuckled. "Ufufu, yes. A pleasure to meet both of you as well. I'm sure that both of you probably have heard of my name before. But it wouldn't hurt to introduce myself, am I correct?" No response. "Well, I'm **Remilia Scarlet. The Scarlet Devil** herself." She stated with a bit of proud inserted into her tone of speech. "Would you like some tea? I'd tell Sakuya if you want some."

"It's a pleasure to be acquainted with you, Remilia-san. But currently, we have little time for pleasantries." Niji commented, maybe getting slightly irritated. "We've more pressing matters at hand right now."

Remilia gave him an intimidating look for cutting her off, but the magician was left unfazed, knowing that her mental assault failed, she relents. "I see. Well then… Might as well as hear you out."

Niji and Alice proceeds to let Futo to do the talking. After she told the vampire her story, her expression changed from a playful one into a dead serious one.

"I've heard that someone burned Myouren Temple to the ground. But to destroy your mausoleum… And those things were accomplished just by a single man?" She asked sounded disbelieved, even Sakuya looks like she's shocked to hear the story as well. "Atrocious." She commented, obviously feeling irritated on the man's actions already.

"I know. That's why we're here, Remilia-san." Niji said, his hands curled into fists beneath his gray colored cloak.

"Oh? And on which part does this event requires my help?" She asked, maybe somewhat curious.

"We're asking for our input in this, Remilia-san. Do you have any idea, any idea at all on who this person might be? Because we're still in the dark, as you can see." Alice replied.

Remilia pouted, resting her hands on the table. "The swordsman…" She pondered. "Sakuya, do you have insight on this situation?" She turned to face her maid.

The head maid shook her head. "I'm sorry mistress, but I haven't anything about that man."

The master of the large mansion sighed. "Forgive me as well… But we haven't heard any news regarding this swordsman you're searching. All we heard by now was just the Myouren Temple's being burned down by someone. Other than that, we're also short on the details."

Futo gave a disappointed look. "It's okay, Remilia-san. Not everyone knows about the news too, anyway."

"Sorry again. But we're here to provide you with all of the help you can get. There's Patchy and Sakuya over here." Remilia replied. "Just hearing him burning down the temple already made my blood boils. But destroying even the mausoleum and breaking the Spell Card system? Reimu is not going to be happy when she hear this."

"Thank you for your assistance so far, Remilia-san." Alice bowed slightly before noticing the sun was getting a bit low at the sky. "It's getting pretty late. So, if you'll excuse us, we'll take our leave." At the cue, the three stood up from their seats and bowed to the vampire.

"Of course. And one more thing… If you three managed to catch him, bring him to me. I want to taste his blood first hand. Ufufu…" That last line made the trio drop a cold sweat.

"We'd better get out of here and quick." Niji suggested with a whisper.

"I agree with his suggestion, Alice-san."

"Then, what are we waiting for?"

* * *

The three made their way back to Alice's house. But the puppeteer had to stop at a place she called… **Kourindou** to fetch them some supplies. She explained that the store sells items that's originated from the outside world. _THIS_, made Niji intrigued. But when he saw the nearly rundown building in front of his eyes, he could only say one thing.

"**_Junk. Freakin'. Yard._**" He stated plainly as his palm smacked his forehead.

Alice raised an eyebrow. "So… You're not heading in?"

"As much as I wanted to, I'll pass." He waved dismissively.

"Alright then… I'll be right back, alright?"

With that, Alice heads into the store, leaving the Shikaisen and the swordsman alone at the store's front yard. There was only silence for some time, the two just enjoyed the sunset in front of them. Neither of the two made any noise. Their eyes focused on the orange colored horizon. This is going to stay that way until Futo decides that the silence's getting awkward.

"So… Niji-san?" She spoke up, causing Niji to shift his gaze slightly to his left.

"Hmm?" Hummed the magician questionally.

"How long have you known Alice-san?"

"Alice-san? We just met about a week ago. You see, I'm just another swordsman from the far east with little to no knowledge about Gensokyo at all. I'm on my pilgrimage journey, sent by my temple to gather knowledge and wisdom from this land. Considering that no one would ever accept me due to my Youkai-looking appearance, I had to search for a place to live to no avail. Luckily, Alice-san here came to my aid when it did. She provided me with a place to live and all of that."

"So… You consider her as a friend?"

Niji fidgets slightly. "A friend?" He repeated the word 'friend' a few times. "Well… To be honest, I don't really know. But if you're asking that, yes. I do consider her as a friend."

This time, it's Futo's turn to hum. "Well, what do you think about her?"

"Eh? Well… Uh… She's… Kind? I guess? She's really supporting when it comes to times like this. As a fellow magician, both of us shares the same amount of respect towards each other. Although sometimes, I do get concerned of her well being. She often puts other in front of herself."

Futo gave him her smug-face. "Oh really?" She chirped with a teasing tone. "Say for yourself... Going as far to the edge of the forest just to save me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Frowned the swordsman.

"Oh nothing~…" She looked away playfully.

Good thing Alice showed up when she did. The blonde walked out of the store with a bag of food in hand. She used her free hand to dust off the dusts and such from her clothes.

"Sorry for the wait… It got pretty hectic inside the store." Alice said.

"No problem's taken." Niji replied dismissively, using his free hand to wave it off.

* * *

The trio continued their flight back to the puppeteer's house, this time, the sun has fully set, and the darkened skies

"Alice-san? I know this question sounds dumb. But why not try the Human Village if we're looking for supplies?" Niji spoke in mid flight.

The puppeteer's reaction was as expected, looking at him with a dumbfounded expression. "Well... Uhm, the market over at the Village would be already closed by this time so...-"

"Say no more." A palm landed on his face. "I'm sorry for asking."

Both Futo and his fellow magician gave him the same look that says between the lines of '_What's wrong with him?_'

"Oh, and by the way, I told its store owner about you two. He said he would like to meet you two some time. And, I've also asked him about the recent events regarding the Myouren Temple. Unfortunately, he hasn't heard any word regarding the swordsman either." Alice explained, sighing after the sentence ends.

"Oh yeah..." Niji spoke up. "About that..."

* * *

"...So, about tomorrow-"

"We're heading back into the temple. We've wasted enough time as it is." Futo demanded, face dead serious and all.

Of course, Niji being cut off wasn't being to happy about it, while Alice seems to be contemplating to the idea. "But are you sure that you're okay? I mean your wounds haven't really healed themselves yet." She disagreed. "We could still ask the others for their help for this."

"I'm sure." Came the dead simple reply. "Besides, I think my wounds are already healed up, and at least I can use one or two Spell Cards during battle. I know how to handle myself. And no, I think it would be best for us to get to the temple as soon as possible considering the circumstances."

"Just a word of warning, though... If our opponent's really the Sixth sword, then we should not take him lightly." Niji stated, with his hands already rested on the table. "Then again... Our titles aren't just for show either." He continued, reassuring both Futo and Alice.

With a not-so-confident grin, the three prepared for their journey to the ruins of the temple.

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere...

"They're coming for you..." A voice echoed out of thin air.

A figure bowed down suddenly, hearing the voice. "Takao-sama?"

"Yes... Just a word of warning... The Sword of Seven himself is coming to get you. Better prepare yourself."

The figure only chuckled back in response. "Don't worry about me, Takao-sama. Everything's actually going as planned, this time, I'll get that damned Shikaisen for sure."

"Good. That's what I like to hear. And tell Penta if he ever comes back to you, that I've received the Seven Star Sword."

"Certainly, Takao-sama."

* * *

**_"I'll show them that this title... The Sword of Six isn't just for show."_**

* * *

**End of Chapter Seven**

* * *

**Author's notes**

Here's chapter seven guys.

Sorry for the wait. To tell you the truth... My grandpa passed away recently and it really messed up my writing. So sorry for this chapter's quality. As soon as I'm able to cope with it, the usual Lost Colors with its weird writing style will return to its full strength, courtesy of yours truly. Honestly, I don't even know what am I writing right now. Probably just taking his passing way too hard.

The next chapter will contain some... Hopefully epic Danmaku battles. With the introductions of several casts in this chapter, hopefully we'll see some more during the next. So wait for it, yeah?

Thanks for reading guys, I hope you enjoyed my story so far. I'll be back soon. And lastly, not forgetting my last word. Traesto.


	9. Battle for the Mausoleum

The damage done to the Myouren Temple was rather... Massive, literally, everything was razed, nothing left but burned wood. The morning mist made the place to have this rather eerie feeling. It was still early in the morning, but Futo had forced her two magicians to get up. Niji could swore that Alice mumbles something between the lines of 'Five more minutes'. But then again, he also thinks that he did the same thing. Sheepishly killing the thought, he analyzed the ruined temple, looking for any survivors at the same time.

"Nothing but burned wood and destroyed rocks. Not even a single life sign." Niji stood up from his crouched position, throwing away one piece of debris in the process. "So, no luck on my end. Sorry."

"Same here." Alice did the same thing, walking over to the swordsman's position.

Futo, looking disappointed, walked over to them. "I wonder if anyone survived..." She whispered. "No, they must be alright... The must be alright..."

"Come on. We should check the mausoleum." Niji pointed to the back area of the temple. "Show us the way to the entrance, Futo-san. And stay vigilant, I have a bad feeling about this."

The group walked quietly, circling the temple around, following the Shikaisen to the designated location. But after a while, instead of finding any hostiles or something similar to those lines, they instead heard _this_ from the distance...

"_Ayayaya! What a scoop!_"

At that instance, Niji pulled his gun-blades out of its sheaths, ready to attack the source of the voice, only to be stopped by his fellow magician. The blonde puppeteer gave him a tired look, which Niji returned her a confused look of his own. Futo, not really knowing what's going on, also gave the same confused look.

"Don't." Alice commanded. "She's not hostile ... _Although she could get annoying at times._" She muttered the last part out, not loud enough for the other two to notice.

"What was that?" Niji tilted his head.

"Oh nothing."

The group turned around the corner to see a crouched figure holding something that looks like a box in her hands, but the weird thing is, clicking sounds're heard from the box. Niji and Futo, being curious about it, decided to check it out. Noticing the sudden presence, the figure jolted upwards to see them in full image. But what they saw afterwards was not what they were expecting.

It's another girl, well, being Niji, realizing that all of the people he met until then were all females, began to feel a bit awkward about it, but shrugged it off to identify her. The girl had a medium length black hair, striking red eyes as well as two pointed ears. She's wearing a white blouse, a short black shirt as well as a tokin on top of her head. She's also wearing this red geta. There's a pair of short black crow wings on her back, it was obvious that she's a Tengu. The box she's holding was easily identified as an old school camera by Niji.

Neither of the three made any sound. Futo, Niji, and the girl stared at each other for a full minute, all of them with a confused and maybe somewhat surprised expression.

"Uhm, excuse me?" Niji asked, still somewhat confused to the whole awkward situation.

And, clicking sounds were heard from her camera. She's taking pictures of the two. "Ayaya! A newcomer!" She yipped as she snapped a few more pictures from the two. Feeling uneasy by the sudden attention, Futo backed off slightly while Niji's usual overprotective senses kicked in, raising a gun-blade directly at her, stopping her from coming any closer.

"If you're smart, you'll put that camera away." The swordsman stated calmly, much the Tengu's surprise.

Instead, she growled. "Hey, what's the big idea?! Put that sword away, or someone's bound to get hurt, you know."

"Niji-san! Please, put the blade down." Commanded a familiar voice that only belongs to a certain blonde haired puppeteer. Niji shifted his eyes to the Tengu girl, then to Alice, then back to the girl again. Knowing that the Tengu intends no harm anyway, Niji lowered his sword. "As I said before, she's not hostile. Although you're getting too close for his comfort, Aya. You might want to back off a bit."

The Tengu girl, seeing that the puppeteer has come to her aid, smirked victoriously before backing off. "Easy on that sword, there. I'm just taking some shots."

"Yeah. Right." Niji answered sarcastically. "So, who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"Me?" She pointed at herself, which Niji and Futo gave her a look that says '_Who else, dummy?_'. The Tengu cleared her throat before reaching for her pocket and she pulls out a badge, which's looking strikingly similar to the reporter's badge from the Outside World. "**Aya Shameimaru, the Traditional Reporter of Fantasy**, at your service! And who're you two?"

"I'm Niji Heika, and this here's Mononobe no Futo." The swordsman pointed his thumb to the Shikaisen, the hermit herself gave Aya a small bow.

"Uhm, may we ask why are you here, Aya-san?" Futo asked.

Aya pointed at her camera. "I heard about the news, about the Myouren Temple being burned down and all, and I decided that I should check this place to see the damage done for myself... It looks like there's not much left in here, safe for ruins, dusts, debris and such, but still, this is a big scoop! This'll be the front page of my next newspaper!" She stated rather proudly, oddly. "So, what brings you three here?"

"We're here to investigate the remains of the temple for any survivors, as well as helping Futo-san right here to get her back to her mausoleum." Alice answered.

"Wait wait wait..." Niji interjected. "You said something about newspaper, Aya-san. Does that mean you're-"

"Correct! I write the Bunbunmaru News, I'm sure you've heard of it before."

With a slightly tilted head, Niji and Futo gave her a confused look. "What's that?"

"_**ARGH!**_" Aya comically fell backwards, head first to the ground. "Seriously, you _don't_ know Bunbunmaru?! Come on, have you two been living in a cave or something? It's Gensokyo's one and only best-selling newspaper!"

"_Most of its contents're actually made up on the spot. So it's pretty much a false gossip_." Alice whispered to the two. "Well, Aya... We're about to head into the mausoleum."

"I see, well, do you need any help?" She offered.

Niji, although appreciating the offer for help, shook his head. "That's alright, Aya-san." He raised his hands, declining respectfully. "Besides... I have a bad feeling about something inside the great halls."

Aya, instead looked a bit hurt by that. "Hey, let me tell you something, we Crow Tengus' speed're no match for everyone else here at Gensokyo."

"No, I only think that it'll only higher the chance for us to get more casualties. I mean just look at the damage done at this place. I heard that the Halls of Dreams' Great Mausoleum's also suffered the same amount of damage." Niji once again, denied it. At the mention of the mausoleum, the silver haired Shikaisen cringed, leaving Alice to pat her back reassuringly.

That statement made Aya's mouth hold to a pause before she continued to talk. "Well..." She began, still feeling kinda unsured. "I don't know..." She examined and analyzed the surroundings. Nothing but debris left and right. "I suppose you're right. But, still, I really want to help!"

"Well, Aya-san, you could your newspaper as a media, actually." Futo pointed out. "You could... Well, write something about this, warning everyone that a killer's on the loose, also telling them to keep their guard up. It could help the Human Village as well as the other settlements to improve their defenses."

The Crow Tengu stopped her mouth before opening, then she contemplates to the idea. "Well, that doesn't sound like a bad idea either... Okay, I guess... I'll see what I can do about this matter."

"Thank you, Aya." Alice for once lost her kind of annoyed expression after seeing her. "Now, Niji-san, we should probably hurry. Who knows what's waiting for us down there. Might as well get it over with as soon as possible, right?" The said puppeteer walked over at pat the swordsman's shoulder lightly, giving him a cue to leave the conversation as well.

Although, with Aya's all seeing eye, she misinterpreted the sight before her eyes. The Tengu got one last shot with her camera. "So, are you two a couple or something?" She snickered playfully.

Alice's expression turned into one of those '_here we go again..._' types. "No." She said simply. "And Aya, this is no laughing matter, so please."

"Alright, alright, I get you." She replied dismissively, before standing up to a flying stance. "Be careful down there! I'll be off!" With that, the Tengu flied away from the area with an incredible speed, which left the swordsman amazed.

'_So she's not lying after all... Crow Tengus are sure fast._' He thought quickly, before joining Alice and Futo to the back of the temple.

* * *

The group arrived at the temple's graveyard. The place's very... Spooky and eerie, although Futo, probably too anxious to even feel scared right now, seems unfazed at the sight of the old and ancient tombstones covered by the mist, that can't be said to the two magicians following her closely from behind. Wht it comes to graveyards, Niji had this 'afraid-of-ghosts' things in his mind, unbeknownst to him, Alice was also thinking about the same thing. The magicians were left shaking, scared.

But they continued on anyway. Occasional sounds made of the magicians' teeth gritting each other rapidly can be heard though.

"Wait." Futo held her left hand up, stopping the group in their tracks. "Can you two hear that?"

Both Niji and Alice stopped whatever they're doing and listened closely to the sound the Shikaisen mentioned. Yes. There're some sounds coming from that large tree over there. But the two magicians went more scared instead.

"W-what... I-is that?" The swordsman asked with deep breath intervals after each syllables.

"The voice... It sounds familiar... Wait! That sounds like Seiga! Niji-san, Alice-san, we have to hurry. She's one of my residents of the mausoleum." Futo stated out loud, and she ran forward by herself.

Both magicians exchanged glances for a few seconds before nodding to each other. Shoving their fears away, the jog lightly, following Futo. About a few seconds of running, the group arrived at a large tree at the center part of the graveyard. They found two figures with their backs leaned against the large tree trunk, Futo was left shocked to see the image before her.

There's blood and cut marks on their body. Futo's silver eyes widened instantly and her hand was left hovering over her mouth, she was once again at the verge of tears. Niji and Alice, seeing the image, barged through.

There's two girls, one has blue eyes and hair of the same color styled with two Chinese style hair loops secured with a relatively large hair stick. She wears a simple teal dress with a floral design with a white and blue vest with Chinese patterns. On her waist is a flower secured by her belt. The other one has greyish blue hair and eyes. She wears a blue hat with a yellow star and an ofuda on the forehead. Her shirt is red chinese-like, with pink trim on the wide sleeves. Her skirt is black skirt with the same trim wrapped around the skirt like ribbon. She keeps her arms ahead. If you ask Niji, the other one looks like a zombie.

But to more pressing matters, both of them are injured. Badly. While Futo was just left standing there, probably too stunned to do anyting about it, Niji and Alice immediately crouched besides the two girls, examining their injuries. As expected, like Futo's story, there're cuts, some bruises as well as low-stage burnt injuries.

"Alice-san. The potions. Now." The blue haired half-Youkai said or rather, commanded simply. The blonde nodded back and reached for her pocket. She pulls out two bottles with shining golden liquids inside them. "Are you two alright?" No response. "Damn it, we're losing them."

"Niji-san!" Alice tossed the bottles to her fellow magician, with his sucky reflexes, Niji gingerly caught the two bottles.

After the bottles' corks're open, Niji began to pour the golden liquid into their mouth. "Let's just hope that this healing potion works..." He muttered, narrowing his eyes as the group waits for a reaction.

And he two girls began to cough, and wheeze heavily, but to the more positive effects, some of the wounds began to regenerate quickly. Futo was amazed while the two magicians did a high five.

"H-how did...?" The Shikaisen can't find the right words for the situation.

Alice stood up, with a small smile on her face. "These are the healing potions we've been researching for some time. The actual liquids were brewed only yesterday." She explained.

"So far so good..." Niji examined the healing wounds of the two.

The blue haired girl was the first to come to her senses, her orbs refocusing on the image in front of her, which is Niji, without wasting another second, she screamed as she pushed the swordsman away. Of course, losing the momentum of the sudden push, Niji fell backwards. The teal-blue clad girl immediately raised her hands, trying to fire Danmaku at him. But she was stopped by the sudden image of Futo entering her eyes.

"Seiga! Stop it!" The said hermit stood in front of the blue haired magician, with Alice helping him up to his feet. "He's not dangerous."

"F-Futo-san?!" The girl pulled her hand down. "Y-you came back!"

Next one to gain her consciousness was the zombie girl. She groaned a few times, before looking at the sight before her. Looking at Futo, then to the magicians.

"U-uh..." Was all she said, too dumbfounded to grasp anything.

"Yoshika, it's alright." Futo crouched before the zombie girl, before turning into her temporarily hosts. "Niji-san, Alice-san, let me introduce you to these two. They're also an ally of the Crown Prince as well as the other residents of the mausoleum. This is **Seiga Kaku**, I do believe that I mentioned her a while ago, and this here's **Yoshika Miyako**. She acts as the guardian for the mausoleum's gate."

"Uh, sorry for almost attacking you earlier." Seiga reluctantly bowed down as she got up on her feet.

Yoshika did the same. "Uhm... Futo-sama, who are these two?" The zombie girl used one of her upheld hand and points at the magicians.

"They're Niji Heika and Alice Margatroid, the magicians from the Forest of Magic. They're the ones who helped me. To tell you the truth, without them, I'm done for. So I owe them one. But, by the way, Seiga... How'd you get out of the mausoleum? I thought that you sealed the gate from the inside. And then... How'd you end up with Yoshika right here?" Futo questioned hastily.

Seiga seemed a bit reluctant to explain, but considering the circumstances, she obliged. "When it got too dangerous down there, I had to pull out. Yes, the gate's sealed and all, but I also had the ability to pass through walls, in case you forgot, Futo-san. When I got outside, I was in the brink of death, I found Yoshika here already lying down on the ground."

"I was the first one to enter the battle first hand... So I think I took the worst beating of all." Admitted the pale girl. "But then again, I'm already an undead..."

"What about the inside?" Futo asked again.

"I think Miko-sama and Tojiko-san are still inside. I made sure that the gate's still sealed, so for now, no being can go in or out except me."

"We're going in." Niji stood up, pulling his cloak.

Seiga tried to move. "I'll come too- Ungh."

"The potions were only meant to speed the cell's regeneration process, not actually heal you up. I suggest both of you stay here for the time being." Alice explained.

"B-but Miko-sama and Tojiko-sama are still inside!" Yoshika yelled, furious.

"Yoshiko, Seiga! Please!" Futo yelled back. "They're here to help. Besides, your injuries will only slow them down. Believe it or not. I'm going in with them, you two did well, please, just rest for the time being. We'll continue this talk later."

"..." Was the reply came from both of them.

"Niji-san, Alice-san. Let's go."

* * *

**Project Shrine Maiden : Lost Colors**

**Chapter Eight : Battle for the Mausoleum**

* * *

The seal's opened, the group walked through the entrance, only to meet a sight that could be only described with the word 'horror'. After the trio placed their first step into the mausoleum, they could only gasp, while Futo's reaction was immediate. She broke down, crying. Knees first to the ground, the silver haired Shikaisen wept at the image before their eyes, Niji and Alice could only analyze and examine the damage done to the grand building.

Least to say, the condition of the destroyed Myouren Temple was _much_ better than this. Nothing but dust and debris, the flames still burn, it was an absolute ground zero. Both magicians crouched beside the hermit, comforting her. They knew the pain she's having. If someone burns your house down with little to no remorse, I think you would be like her too.

"The mausoleum... Gone..." Said the short hermit between sobs.

Niji helped her up. "It's too early to give up now, Futo-san. Some survivors may still be around."

"Right... Right..." She wiped her tears off, standing up. "Right, let's go."

Although, unknown to them, a black-red figure swept through the ruins in high speeds. And about a second later, a red light is seen visible from the distance.

"What's that?" Niji squinted his eyes to examine the approaching light, only to find that it was actually a shockwave-like energy slash, and it's headed directly to... "Oh crap."

"Look out, Alice-san!" Futo warned loudly.

The puppeteer could only look at the Shikaisen and then to the red massive wave heading straight for her. "A-ah...!" She closed her eyes, knowing that something lethal would end her life soon, too scared to watch on.

"**_ALICE!_**"

* * *

**_..._**

* * *

But instead of finding herself on the way passing the Sanzu River, the blonde haired puppeteer felt a strong grip and certain around her shoulders. Alice opened her eyes to see an eyeful of blue hair. Her crystalline blue eyes refocusing to the image before her, a certain magician-swordsman was wrapping his hands around her shoulder, literally bracing her, while using his free left hand to stop the red wave.

"N-Niji-san?"

"**_KATSU!_**" With that, the swordsman gripped the red wave with his left hand, and it vanishes completely, safe for the hot steam from his left hand. The said magician immediately flinched as he saw his left hand with minor burn wounds. "Are you alright, Alice-san?"

"I-I'm fine...!"

Futo was at an alarmed state, two fireballs visible on her hands, eyes shifting gazes from left to right. Niji himself lets go of his right arm around Alice's shoulder, two swordsman and the puppeteer then joined Futo with a battle stance, of course, the blonde with her dolls summoned, and each of them armed with shield, small swords, lances and even... Drills. Niji was armed with his usual twin gun-blades, while Futo dismissed the fires on her palm and summoned two teal colored plates instead.

"Who did that?" Futo questioned quietly, but no one needed to answer that because a loud chuckle erupted from the distance, gaining everyone's distance, the group of three turned their heads.

What they saw afterwards... A standing tall male figure, with short black hair and colorless irises, as he approached the group, they could see his body completely, a black trench coat over a red shirt. A pair of black trousers as well as black boots. When his face into the image, the trio gasped immediately with Futo almost charging forward to the man, but she was stopped by none other than Niji.

With a gritted teeth and narrowed eyes, he took a step forward. "You."

"Yes. Me." He chuckled once more, a wicked grin plastered on his face. "So, he wan't lying after all... You're actually coming to get me. But hey... It's been a while, right... Niji?"

"Seis Huggare, the Sixth Sword... What the hell are you doing here?"

Seis only gave him a mocking smile. "Well of course, I'm here to greet my guests... Oh and I see that hermit's also here too... Good to see you again... Miss."

"You... How dare you..." Futo growled, her hands gripping on the floating plates. "Where's the Crown Prince and Tojiko?! What did you do to them?!"

"Oh, them? Don't worry, they're at a better place now... Hopefully."

"WHAT?!" Futo charged forward, once again only to be stopped by Niji.

The blue haired swordsman lowered his swords. "Seis-san... Why the hell did you do this? It isn't like you to attack people without warning."

"We had our reasons, Niji."

"_We?_" Alice, being able to grasp the situation, finally gave a question away. "What do you mean by 'we'?"

The cutlass wielder gave her an annoyed look. "Well, it's obvious, isn't it? We're working in groups."

"You mean..." Niji spoke up.

"Yes, I'm not alone."

The swordsman clenched his fist. "But for what reason? You threw away the everything our order's started!"

"Threw away? Huh, that's too bad... Because everything's just begun!"

* * *

Seis charged forward to the three, cutlass in hand. The curved sword he wields was coated in red electricity currents, the said black haired swordsman swiped his cutlass horizontally, sending a red wave to the trio. Alice, Niji and Futo ducked only to see more red waves heading straight for them. The cutlass wielder was slashing at terrifying speeds, sending numerous waves into them.

One of the red waves hit the debris, and it immediately exploded.

"That man... He's using lethal Danmakus!" Alice warned, summoning her dolls in the process.

"I'll make him pay for what he's done." Futo summoned a plate on one hand, and a fireball in the other.

But just about they were to counter him, a hand held them back. It was Niji's.

"Guys, stand back." He said plainly. "I need to finish this with him..." He pulled out his gun-blades and they're immediately lighted up in blue beam coating. "...Personally."

"Wh-wha, are you out of your mind?!" Alice snapped. "He beat the residents of both the Myouren Temple and the mausoleum alone!"

"Alice-san's right, Niji-san! You can't possibly-"

"**_Alice. Futo._**" He spoke simply. "I'm glad that both of you cared. But, please, don't underestimate me, please." He said with a smile before vanishing into thin air.

Both of the two looked confused and dumbfounded by his sudden disappearance, but Seis' wicked grin doesn't melt away from his face, he only gripped his cutlass with one hand. Turning his body around. He immediately saw Niji, gun-blades in hand, doing a diagonal slash at him. With one last shot of those red eyes, Seis countered his attack by lifting his cutlass, blocking the slash.

But what Alice and Futo weren't prepared for're when the blades made contact with each other, a large force was sent out. A force so hard that the ground where Seis's standing's immediately cracked, and a small quake erupted. Both of the spectators had to take flight in order to escape from the trembling floorings. They're left amazed at the duel that's taking place.

"You've improved your speed, Niji! Not bad, not bad at all." Seis chuckled, his sword grinding with Niji's, flame sparks started to come out from the grinding areas. "Once I'm done with you, I'll be sure to tie up the loose ends." He shifted his colorless eyes to Alice and Futo.

"..." Was all Niji said with his straight face on. "Those two are out of this. This battle is just between you and me, Huggare." He lifted his left hand and swiped the Leviathan down, only to meet thin air.

Seis appeared behind him. "...But your reflexes are as bad as ever." With that, he vertically did a vertical slash, but instead of Niji's flesh, his cutlass made contact with the blue half-Human's Harbinger, and as expected, another large force was sent out.

"H-how could he withstand such massive force?" Futo exclaimed, looking at the whole scene with shock.

"I-I don't know myself." Alice answered. "Both of them has it. Power and agility. But I've never actually seen Niji-san fighting in his full strength."

With one more swipe from his cutlass, Seis dashed forward, Niji, seeing the incoming threat, he performed a vertical roll to the back, with the cutlass missing him by a few inches, cutting a few short bits from his hair in the process. Making some distance between the two, Niji fired his first shot with his gun-blades at their rifle mode, of course his mechanism also helped him by firing a third beam.

"Your fighting style's always harsh, Seis-san..." Commented Niji calmly.

"That's me, alright..." Noticing the salvo of blue colored laser heading his way Seis raised his left hand, electric current flowing on his palm. "**_Fall!_**" He yelled, and a wave of red colored lightning as well as a large force was pushed from his palm.

"..." Niji himself, seeing that his Danmaku attacks were rendered useless by the push, sheathed the Leviathan and raised his left hand, his palm coated in blue colored silhouette. "**_Katsu!_**" At the cue, a large force with its power rivaling Seis's push, dashed out of his palm, and with that, the said magician also dashed forward, leaving only an after-image of his body behind.

"Heh, you're pretty good with that technique, Niji." Chuckled the cutlass wielder, before raising his curved sword upwards, just in time to block Niji's sudden attack. "But, I really do have to say it again. Your reflexes are as bad as ever!" He made himself to float before countering Niji's slash with a slash of his own.

Both of the swordsman took their fight into the air as the two quickly turned into flickering lights by flying several distances away. They're like shooting stars, causing destruction every time they hit each other. The blue and red flash would collide with each other, sending out explosions and large force at the process. Their terrifying speeds could even match the Crow Tengu's speed.

One time, both of them was so hard on the offense that the ruined walls would crack everytime they made contact. When Niji thought he had the upper hand, he swoop downwards at a neck breaking speed, charging in for the killing blow.

"You're mine!" He barked, swinging both of his swords at full force, but something was off, despite being thrown off balance, Seis was smiling the whole time. Then it's proved when a feet collided with Niji's face, sending him flying off balance and his body smashed the ground. "Guh!" He winced, but thankfully for his Youkai perks, his body seems to be absorbing the impact's force quite minimally.

"Niji-san!" Both of the girls from the distance yelled.

"That's right! You're a forgetful one are you, Niji?" Taunted Seis as a copy of him appeared out of thin air, then more, then more. Finally reaching the number of five copies, the group assumed a battling stance. "In case you forgot... Here's my Spell Card!" He declared. "**Swordsman Sign - The Six Reapers!**"

"...Fighting one of him is already hard enough as it is..." Grunted the blue haired magician as he recovered from his fall. "But..." He pulled his swords again, and charged forward at the five swordsmen.

The six Seis's smirked at the image of the approaching half-Human. "You must be out of your mind, it's six against one, boy." He stated with a matter-of-factly tone. "You've no chance of winning."

One by one, Niji managed to evade the slashes from his opponent, joining his swords to make a sword-staff, the half-Youkai spun the blades around, creating a full 360 horizontal shield, parrying most of the attacks. Most, but not all. He detached the hilts at swipes the Leviathan and an incoming clone, the clone evades his slash and charged at him, one also approaching him from his back. Noticing that he's being boxed, Niji performed a 360 vertical roll, with his body barely evading a certain doom, but then, his face felt something hard.

A punch landed on his face, making the magician to fly out of control, pummeling to the ground below. He crashed downwards, and his body kept on grinding against the hard ruins. He had to use his swords to stop his body's acceleration. When his eyes refocused to the surrounding image, his eyes met several red massive waves, sent none other by Seis. Dusting the dirt off his body, he summoned a card made of light out of thin air.

"**Spell Card!**" He declared, slashing the sword with his swords. "**Sign of the Arcanum - Seven Rings of Manipulation!**" At the declaration of the card's name, seven rings made of light-turned-to-spectrum-circles formed up at his side. "**Manipulation - Priwen Shield Layers!**" The circles materialized themselves and made a formation in front of its master, and just in time, the waves were stopped dead in their tracks, leaving only charged electrical currents flowing from the dimming seventh layer.

"Huh... Impressive." Commented the cutlass wielder simply.

"My... My turn!" Niji said between rushed breaths, raising his gun-blades to aim at the Seis and his copies. "**Manipulation - Genesis's Maginifier!**" At the command, energy began to charge up at the tip of the blades. "Charged Particles - **解放 ! ! ! [Translates to 'Release' in English]**"

The large beam flew straightly towards Seis, but unfortunately for Niji, due to his opponent's high agility, he managed evade the condensed laser and flew away safely, while the other clones charged at him.

"Damn it..." Niji growled, before receiving several blows to his body. "Gah!"

"**_NIJI!_**" Alice yelled, flying to his location with all of the speed she could muster.

Futo was surprised. "Alice-san! Wait!"

* * *

Everything seems hazy. Glowing lights and floating blobs are what's seen from Niji's dimming rainbow colored eyes. He knew that he had to fight. With that one last motivation he picked his already weak body off the ground, picking up his two swords from the dirt, his eyes could only focus on one thing. Seis Huggare and his clones. The said man is floating high off the ground with a victorious smile on his face.

"It's over for you, Seventh Sword." The cutlass wielder and his clones raised their left hands, bright red electricity currents're seen on their palm. "I will say it for one last time..." He paused. "_**Fall.**_"

Those massive red lightnings, it's headed straight for him. He couldn't move his body for some odd reason. He wanted to move, but his feet were like rooted into the ground. He wanted to attack but his hand turned heavier than iron. He wanted to speak, but his mouth and lips were frozen in their place. Niji could only helplessly watch as the inevitable death approach him.

...Or so he thought, because when he came to his senses, he could hear something from the distance.

"**_NIJI!_**" Boomed the voice, which seems to be getting louder by the second.

"Alice?" Whimpered the swordsman, eyes blank and all.

* * *

***Stab***

* * *

Then the blue haired magician could feel the sudden weight on his chest and left shoulder, his eyes still focused on Seis, but something was amiss. Seis's expression were the ones that's the mixture of shock-stunned-victorious. Niji shifted gaze down, only to see an eyeful of blonde hair ad red ribbon. It was Alice, her head rested on her fellow magician's shoulder, eyes closed. And on her back, there's something flowing from it.

It took him a while to realize that Alice had took the blow for him.

"A-Alice?" He spoke up. No response. "Alice?" He pushed the girl lightly, to see her face, her eyes stayed shut, her body not moving. "No." He said simply.

Seis only gave him a taunting laugh. "Great, now that's one less loose ends!"

"No." He rested her body on the ground. "Alice, please. Wake up." He shook her body lightly, still no response. "Alice!" He's practically yelling at this point. "Please! No!" Again, no response. "This isn't happening. Come on, Alice! Wake up!"

"Face it, boy. She's dead. But don't worry. You'll be joining her soon enough." And with that, he raised his left hand again.

"**_Unforgivable._**" Growled the blue haired magician. "**_You're just unforgivable._**" A bright blue light began to emit from his body. "**_You..._**" He raised his head. "**_Are!_**" To reveal his left eye colored in deep azure. "_**UNFORGIVABLE!**_" He yelled, practically in the verge of tears.

"Right, and you're about to do something about it?" Taunted his opponent, swinging his cutlass at thin air, as if provoking the already angered Niji on the ground below

"**_Damn right._**" He replied, grabbing his gun-blades and standing up from his crouched position. He rested Alice on the ground and immediately coat his swords in a blue beam. "**_I won't just show you the full extend of the Seventh Sword's capabilities._**" He took one deep breath before continuing. "**_I WILL kill you, Seis Huggare._**" He stated simply as he summoned a Spell Card out of thin air.

* * *

**End of Chapter Eight**

* * *

**Author's Notes**

So, here's chapter eight! My longest chapter ... Yet!

Danmaku battle at this chapter. What about the Chapter's title in mid-story? This chapter's purpose is just battle, I guess. But we have some more casts being introduced not so properly here. And yes! I think it's pretty obvious that the Sword of Six will be the antagonist, just for the next few chapters though... Welp, I think I just spoiled a few parts. But oh well. After my grandpa's passing, I think I'll be alright for now.

And... I can't say much about the ending of this chapter. Just prepare yourselves for some overpowering skill for the next chapter, yeah?

Well, that's it! I hope you guys enjoyed the story so far, thanks for reading, guys. And not forgetting my usual catchphrase ... Traesto!


	10. The Seven Swords

"**_I was refraining for advancing to my _****_first_****_ color level. But..._**" Niji stated as he stood up. "**_You went too far, Sword of Six._**" He summoned a Spell Card out of thin air.

Just then, Futo landed besides him. "Niji-san!" She exclaimed before seeing the downed Alice. "A-Alice-san!"

"**_Futo-san. Take care of her for me._**" Niji said without looking back. He tried to keep him calm tone, but the last voice came out rather steely and had this commanding tone in it. "**_For now... I'll play with you, Huggare_**." He continued, then his last sentence came out as a rather taunting and sarcastic, as opposed from his usual collected and monotone voice.

"Then, show me what you've got, Sword of Seven!" Seis taunted back. "Fighting me in your condition? Don't make me laugh."

Niji chuckled with a intimidating tone, so intimidating that a chill ran down Futo's skin. "**_You really are a forgetful one are you?_**" He replied back. "**_You are facing the Seventh Sword... That's why..._**" He paused. "**_Spell Card._**"He declared, with the shining white card landed on his palm. With all of the strength he could muster, he crushed the card with his left palm, and blue light began to emit on his shoulder mechanism, and with one last shot of his not so sane grin, which made Futo drop a bead of cold sweat, he says ...

* * *

"**_Swordsman Sign - The Seven Swords._**"

* * *

**Project Shrine Maiden : Lost Colors**

**Chapter Nine : Seven Swords**

* * *

**_#Insert Song : 0-Raiser [Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Original Soundtrack IV, Track 19 - Composed by Kenji Kawai]#_**

With that declaration, the five blades on his back began to glow brightly. "**_All_** **_Sabers ; パージ. [Paji / Purge]_**" One by one, the blades began to detach themselves from their dock. "**_Connecting Quantum brainwaves._**" Blue magic strings can be seen connecting from the mechanism to the five individual blades, and the blades responded to their masters' actions by floating to his side. His whole body is covered in a bright yet soft blue aura, his right eye is covered with his bangs, with only his left azure eye visible, it sure made quite an image.

"Hmph..." Seis hummed, with him and his clones raising their cutlasses. "Bring it, then."

"**_With pleasure._**" And then it all happened in less than three seconds. Everything was too fast for everyone to see. Before they even knew it, one of Seis's clones disappeared, and Niji was already behind the master of clones, his five blades forming behind him, dispersing light in an angelic fashion, making a silhouette of butterfly wings on his back.

"W-what with that speed?" Futo was somewhat frightened by the image before her, but deep inside she had to admit that it was beautiful.

"**_This is just getting started, Huggare. Get ready to feel the world of pain._**" Growled Niji.

Seis grumbled. "You're one stubborn boy. I'll show you your place!" With one swipe, he and the rest of his clones charged in to him.

"**_Sabers ;_**" Niji commanded, with the five blades forming their bladed ends to aim at the clones. Raising his two swords, all of the blades charged up their ends with a electricity currents. "**_フル 弾幕 バース-トモード ! ! !_ _[Furu Danmaku Basuto Modo / Full Danmaku Burst Mode]_**" He yelled, firing eight salvo of high speed blue condensed beams towards the clones. "**_未だ 未だ ! [Imada imada / Not yet]_**" He yelled yet again, charging to Seis, with his sabers following close behind at lightning speed, of course the only thing visible while he's moving were the butterfly wings on his back.

One, two, three down. The speed of the projectiles were just terrifying only two of them managed to evade including their master. "Tch... What happened to him?!"

"_**Sabers ; 攻撃Attack!**_" He commanded, and at cue, the blades begin to individually attack their targets, Seis and his clones. The five small blades began to fire small beams from all sides, up and down, left and right, diagonally, then they proceed to charge in to attack them in close range. Slashes after slashes, cuts after cuts, beam fires after beam fires. Niji charged in a flash, swiping both of his beam swords at the cutlass wielder.

"Gah!" The sudden pain was felt on his chest, the black haired cutlass wielder looked down to see minor burn wounds, he realized that Niji's still not fighting with all of his strength. "He's just fighting me at this level, and I'm already losing, who... No... _WHAT IS_ he?"

"**_You should pay more attention to your surroundings, Huggare._**" A cold and nearly emotionless yet deadly threatening voice whispered from his back, causing the Sword of Six to turn his head around, only to meet a fist connecting with his jaw.

"Ugh!" Grunted Seis in pain, the knock had sent him crashing into the ground below, but he was quick to take flight again.

Niji, this time was with his blades forming some kind of formation that pictures the sign of his arcanum with the magical strings. "**_Sabers!_**" He yelled, raising his right hand, ordering them to attack the almost downed Seis, which the insentient swords responded by flying to their target, firstly, the five smaller blades fired off their danmaku beams, of course, Niji himself supporting offscreen with his dual gun-blades and the mechanism over his shoulder, then they charged in for non-lethal slashes that caused several non-deep cuts all over the Sixth Sword's body, his apparel now a pure mess.

Futo was watching the whole scene with horror, although she knew well that Niji was certainly not aiming to kill him, she could sense the intense anger within the blue haired magician's body. "N-Niji-san..." She muttered with a concerned tone, her eyes focused on the dogfight above her. But her silver orbs snapped downwards when she heard the puppeteer mumbling something.

"...Ni..." Was all that's heard from Alice.

"Alice-san!" Futo exclaimed, snapping her attention on the blonde now. "Please, hang in there!" But her worry grew larger as she saw Alice's body began to glow in a red aura. "Wh-wha...?"

"**_SABERS!_**" Niji's voice boomed through the large area. "**_フォーメーション ; アズレ ストーム ! [Fomeshon ; Azure Sutomu / Formation ; Azure Storm]_**" He commanded, whilst joining his swords' hilts, making a sword-staff. The blades charged in at high speed, cutting more parts of the cutlass wielder's apparel, also disarming him from his cutlass, and a few blades hits Seis on his back with their blunt ends, pushing him forward for some reason. A flash of light flickered in the distance, and a pair of butterfly wings're seen visible, Niji charged in high speed, his sword staff in hand, already coated in a blue beam.

"I-is he going to?!" Seis yelled in disbelief.

The two accelerating sides were like going to collide at each other, but Niji had other plans. "**_終わり だ ! ! ! [Owarida! / This is the end!]_**" With that, Niji planted his sword staff deep at Seis' chest, causing the blue beam from the blades to build up quickly. But the said magician kept accelerating, he stopped about a mile away from the point of impact and landed on the ground, his right hand glowing in a soft blue color. "**_KATSU ! ! ! ! !_**" He clenched his right hand into a fist...

...And a large explosion occurred behind him, more specifically, his blades were charged with beams, and he overloaded them. About a few seconds later, the blades docked again at the mechanism over his shoulder, and with his right hand open, the gun-blades made its way to its master's waiting hand from the back. Niji caught the sword-staff without any effort, separating the hilts and sheathing his swords with a loud 'Clank!' sound, Niji officially ends the fight, with him being victorious, the only thing visible through the dark dusts was his shining left azure eye.

**_#End Insert Song#_**

* * *

**_"I'm not even trying."_**

* * *

A figure can be seen dropping from the cloud of ionized-charged dusts, Seis plummets to the ground below, impacting the debris of the mausoleum at high speed. A large gash is visible on his chest that strangely does't leave anything besides more minor burnt wounds as well as shallow cuts. When he came to his senses, his colorless eyes met the receiving end of Niji's gun-blade.

"It's over for you, Seis-san." Niji stated simply, his finger clicking on the gun-blade to let out the excess heat due to the overusing its long range beam capabilities. Steam quickly covers the sword, but you could still see the charged particles on the bladed ends.

Strangely, the Sword of Six only shrugged. "Then kill me already."

"..." At the reply, Niji flinched a bit. "I..." Pause, "I can't do it."

"Why?"

"I just can't. Besides... You still have a lot to answer." With that answer, Niji turned his back from the downed black haired swordsman. He sheathed his sword and started to limp his way back to Alice's and Futo's location, leaving an only confused and maybe a bit irritated Seis on the ground.

The said cutlass wielder spat on the ground, and picked both his body and his cutlass from the floor, and he summoned a card. "It's not over until I say so, Niji!" He yelled, activating his card in the process, also making the Seventh Sword to turn his head around in surprise. "**_Spell Card!_**" Boomed Seis's voice, which is full of authority, for some reason. "**_Swordsman Sign - The Six Reapers!_**" He declared, with the card vanishing, five more copy of himself were summoned out of nowhere.

"You're crazy!" Yelled the blue haired magician. "You can't just activate a Spell Card in that condition, it's suicide!"

"If you're not taking your chances, then I will!" With that, Seis and his clones charged forward to engage the already exhausted Sword of Seven.

"Tch..." Tutted Niji, readying his sword for one last clash, but instead, his eyes met something flickering from the distance.

"**_Curse Sign - Shanghai Doll!_**" With the declaration of its name, Shanghai flew besides Niji and launched a very huge and wide light crimson beam, hitting Seis and all of his copies in the process, destroying his clones and knocking the cutlass wielder against a ruined wall, effectively knocking him unconscious. The whole scene's watched by a confused and very shocked Niji. The magician tilted his head to his side, to find the cute doll smiling at him, but something's off. Last time he checked, the dolls had crystalline blue orbs, and more confusingly, how can Shanghai be sentient? Her master is...

"Alice?!" Niji turned his head as well as his body back, to find a certain blonde haired magician, with deep crimson eyes, as opposed from her usual crystalline blue ones, Futo was still catching up, her face showed signs of relieve but fear at the same time. The two magicians did nothing, Niji had a very shocked look on his face, his mouth slightly gaping open, too dumbfounded to grasp the image before him.

Both of the two took a step closer to each other, with their expressions seems to be unreadable to the Shikaisen. Alice's face was a mixture of anger, irritated, sadness, yet also a hint of happiness in it, Niji's face was a bit of shock, stun, surprised, happy, confused, and also a bit sad as well. Neither of the two opened their mouths, although the half-Youkai's breath was trembling.

"A-Alice?" Was all that came out from Niji's mouth, before feeling a very hurting sting on the left side of his face, not going to lie, he could see stars for a second. The said swordsman puts a hand up to his cheek to feel the burning sting creeping up when his skin made contact. He quickly realized that Alice had slapped him. Hard. And without any needed cue, the swordsman just quickly pulled his fellow magician into an embrace. He didn't know what drove him to do this. He didn't care. He needed to do it.

"..." Alice didn't say anything. She didn't need to. She didn't refuse nor accept the embrace. She just stared blankly at her partner with her glowing crimson eyes.

This time, it's like something inside Niji's mind snapped. "Goddammit, Alice!" He yelled loudly, not letting go of the embrace. "Damn it all!" He cursed as his flood gate broke open, tears starts to come out from his gradient colored irises as he cursed more 'Damn it' out from his mouth.

"You're a fool, Niji." She replied with a trembling voice, letting her own flood gate broke open as well. Both of their tears now seeping into each others' clothes, but they didn't care.

Niji just gripped her clothes tighter, as if not wanting to let her go. "DAMN IT, ALICE, I KNOW!" He yelled. "I'M AN IDIOT." Both of the two stayed at that position for a while, with Futo watching the scene, letting out several sobs as well. "Promise me." He said with a much calmer tone than before. "Promise me, don't you EVER, do it again."

"N-Niji...?"

"Just promise me, Alice Margatroid. Promise me as a friend... Don't you EVER... EVER... **_EVER_**! Do it again, to hell with saving my own life, dammit." He continued. "_You're worth more than that._" At the end of that sentence, Alice's now crimson eyes widened immediately, her breath stopped completely. Futo herself, although couldn't really hear what he just said, looked visibly surprised as well.

A moment of silence... With the puppeteer snapping out of her shock, she sighed, still with a trembling breath. "I... I promise..." She finally answered, returning the hug to the bluenette.

"Damn it all..." Was the reply. After a few more seconds, Niji finally lets go of her. Then a few more seconds of silence sets in. "I'm sorry for asking this stupid question... But, how?"

The question earns a chuckle from the puppeteer. "I've figured you'll ask sooner or later." She shrugged her shoulders. "You actually think that I'll die that easily? Oh please, Niji. I thought you already know me well enough. As you've probably noticed, I'm a 'Seven-Colored' magician, and that title is certainly not just for show. I have a certain... Failsafe... In case I... 'Die'." She explained hesitantly. "It allows me to advance to my next color stage. Blue is my weakest, while Red, is my second weakest color stage. That would explain the color of my eyes."

"Weak? Heck, you destroyed Seis and his clones with just one shot!" Niji replied disbelievingly.

Alice shrugged again. "Believe me, that is one of my weaker Spell Cards."

"So... It's like a black box, huh?"

Futo walked over to them. "Black box?" Both girls asked at him.

"Black box. It's like an emergency box that records last minute situations on an aircraft that could withstand severe impacts as well as bad crashes, mostly seen on transport planes such as the Boeing 747 and 737 series as well as the Airbus series. But it's also a term that can be used on others, such as an emergency failsafe system..." He paused. "...Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

More Outside World objects... Damn it.

"Nevermind of what I just said..." Niji facepalmed. "Black Box is an emergency failsafe, THAT'S IT, alright?" Two awkward nods. "Good." He sighed.

After a while of quiet thinking, Futo clicked her fingers. "Right... Uhm, you two... Can we please search for the survivors now?" She asked with her head anxiously cocking to her sides.

"Oh?" ... "Oh." ... "Right."

* * *

Despite their injuries, the group went out on a search at the large area. After a while of searching, they still didn't found any signs of survivors on the large ground zero. Seis really torn the place up. The said cutlass wielder's unconscious on the floor. Futo, not giving up continued her search. It lasted for several hours, but still... No survivors're found.

"No signs of life." Niji stated, although his head still spinning around, just to make sure.

"But that's... I mean, Seiga said that the Crown Prince and Tojiko's still here." The Shikaisan stumbled between words as she said that.

Alice, being silent during the whole search finally spoke up. "Um... If I may draw my input on this?"

"Go ahead, no one's stopping you." Niji replied, with him and Futo somewhat expectantly waiting for a response.

"Ever since my... Re-awakening, I've also gained the ability to sense life force. Now, that... Something has been making me unnerved." She stops, pointing at the unconscious Seis with his back rested against a ruined wall. "Is that, I can sense two more life force from Seis-san's body over there." While Futo gave her a shocked look, Niji's thought about it carefully.

The, he clicked his finger. "Pockets." He said simply, also doing a facepalm in the process, this gained him a questioned look from the two. "Check his pockets." With his own cue, he limped to where Seis is, and crouched beside his unconscious and wrecked up figure. His hands reached in for his trench coat's pockets. After ruffing through the seemingly endless pockets all over his coat, he could finally feel something. Something like a paper. Without hesitation, he pulls it out. "Bingo."

He revealed a tan colored paper with red marking all over the surface. It looks like sealing card or some sort.

"Alice, what can you say about this?" Niji asked, holding the paper up with his two fingers.

The blonde puppeteer gave the paper an analyzing look, before gasping in surprise. "Th-that's it! I can sense two life force inside that paper!"

"It's a sealing charm." Futo summed it up rather quickly.

"I'm guessing as much as well. Now... We should be able to unseal it... If... We actually know how to do it."

"Hold on..." Alice raised one hand, with her other free hand opening her tome. Pages after pages, she finally stopped flipping through the thick book. "Here." She showed her tome's contents to the two. "We magicians could do the trick. Although, since we're unsealing two life forces, it would take another magician to do this." All eyes on Niji.

Feeling the expecting gazes from the two, he sighed in defeat. "Right, I'll help you. So tell me, how does this thing works?"

"Simple, focus your magi auras on breaking the seal, but I doubt it will be easy, since we have two lives in one charm here." Alice explained, before somewhat hesitantly holding her hand out. "Take... Take my hand."

The swordsman tilted his head and raised his brow. "Um, okay?" He took her hand, also with a noticeable amount of hesitation as she had shown to him. "Care to explain on why are we doing this?" He asked as he felt her hand touching his own, involuntarily locking their fingers together, they stood before the small paper which is just sitting still on the ground.

Of course, Futo's just watching the whole thing with utter confusion.

"We need to focus our magi auras on this, Niji." She replied. "We're doing this to condense our own magic powers to unseal the spell. So..." Both of the two nod at each other, raising their free hands and opened their palms. "Futo-san... I think that it would be best if you stand back."

"A-alright... Best of luck to you two, Niji-san, Alice-san." The shikaisen took one step back away from them.

One last nod. "Let's do it."

A flash of light flickers on both of their free palms, and a surge of energy builds up. Niji with his palm colored in blue, while Alice's in crimson. The two closed their eyes as more energy began to build up. With their magi auras focused. The light grew brighter and with one grunt, the two forced their magi auras into the seal. The paper began to lit up with a soft purple color. Oh yeah, this is really taking the toll on the two, mostly because of their injuries.

And, with one last rushed breath, they clenched their free hands in unison. "Unseal!" They declared in sync, and blinding light engulfed the area, forcing everyone to shield their eyes.

* * *

A few seconds passed and the blinding light had died down. When Futo opened her silver orbs, she founds Niji and Alice slumped forward with their knees first on the floor. Besides the two exhausted magicians however, was something that the silver haired Shikaisen had been hoping to see since her escape from the great mausoleum.

Two unconscious female figures on the floor. One has a very light blonde, maybe even platinum short blonde hair that's styled like fox ears on the top. She seems to be wearing... Ear muffs? With the kanji of '和' [Wa / Harmony] printed on the sides. She's wearing a purple dress underneath a very pale tan, and almost white vest with trimmings visible on it. There's a snapped shaku at her side.

The other one, has a shoulder length green hair, and wears a dark green dress with ofuda along the bottom. She's also wearing a kanmuri-style hat on the top of her hair, kind of similar to Futo's eboshi. But... She has no feet. Instead, there's two ghost tails present.

"A-ah..." Futo stammered, hand hovering above her mouth. "T-Tojiko... M-Miko-sama..."

A loud yell erupted after that.

When the two partners in magic washed away their hazy vision, they could feel something wrapping them around their necks, they could also hear someone sobbing loudly.

"W-wah?" Was the ingenious question that came from both of them. They pivoted their gaze to their sides and caught the image of Futo, embracing them with tears flowing out of her eyes. They couldn't tell if she was crying in sadness or happiness.

"Thank you, both of you!" She yelled with sobs interrupting after each syllables, this earned a questioned look from the two.

Softly pushing her away slightly, Niji stood up. "Umm..." He hummed confusedly. "What?" He asked, still not noticing the downed girls literally just a foot to his right. Alice however was quick to see them. One light tap at the shoulder later... "What?" He asked again, looking at the puppeteer this time. The said blonde haired magician rolled her eyes and pointed to the right.

Futo, letting the two go from her hug, ran to the unconscious girls. With Alice following suit and Niji limping with his already healing sprained leg... Perks of being a Youkai. They examined the wounds visible on their pale skins, as expected from a battle with Seis, several deep cuts as well as minor burn wounds are seen.

"Who are they?" Questioned the swordsman.

But he didn't get the answer needed. Instead, Futo got up from her crouched position. "Miko-sama? Tojiko, please get up." She shook them lightly, trying to force consciousness back to their bodies.

"Well, that answered my question, at least." The bluenette mumbled warily, rolling his eyes in the process. "Let me check them. Alice, can you help me with this?" He walked over to them, Alice nods in confirmation. With literally nothing left in hand, they could only do field medications such as stooping bleeding, CPRs, and etc. They only brought two vials with the healing potion inside them, and they used them to revive the other residents of the mausoleum.

Niji dusted his hands off before crouching besides the two. Alice checked for any pulse, thankfully, there is. The swordsman analyzed the wounds, searching for any infections, he feared for the worse, since it has been some time since the destruction of the mausoleum. After finding no infecting wounds, he sighed in relieve. Both of them will live... But only if they get them out of this mess.

"They'll survive." Niji informed, with the puppeteer nodding in agreement to his statement. "Some injuries here and there, but nothing life threatening, really." Futo just exhaled loudly, expressing her relieve to the two in a such obvious way.

"But... "Alice interjected. "We still have to get them out of this place."

Futo, examining the ruins of her former home, sadly nodded at the two. "I agree." The two took their cue to pick up the two females up.

"Niji, can you help me with this?" Alice asked, with her hands busily trying to pick Miko up. No response. "Niji?" She asked again, looking to her fellow magician this time. He's staring hollowly at the downed Sword of Six.

"I'm going to bring him out too." He stated, which surprises the two other girls with him. "I need some questions answered and he's the only one that could do it. I didn't do anything to threat his life, only some cuts and burn injuries, but I think I broke his jaw." He continued, swinging his sort of swollen right hand, which is also healing rather quickly.

"I think he deserves more than a broken jaw." Futo hissed, glaring to the unconscious black-red clad swordsman.

Alice puts her hand up to her chin instead. "But, he has a point." She paused. "Although, I do agree with Futo-san right here." Knowing that her partner won't help her, she summoned her dolls to her side, commanding them to do the work instead.

"Don't go so hard on them." Was the last chime that came from Niji's mouth before picking Seis up as well.

Alice simply let her mouth to twitch upwards, although unsure if he was joking or being serious, he cared for her dolls. Which is rather surprising.

* * *

A couple of minutes later, the three're already out of the smoking ruins that was once the home for the Hermits there at Gensokyo. It's already late in the noon when they got out. Seriously, just one big life-threatening Danmaku battle and it's already the sun's already reached the skies? Niji, Futo and Alice had Seis, Miko and Tojiko on their shoulder respectively. When they got out, however, they didn't find the two other residents of the great halls.

Instead, they got a flash of a red-white figure standing with a gohei in hand, when they look up, they saw Reimu with a combined surprised-amused look plastered on her face.

"Shrine Maiden!" Exclaimed Futo with surprise, looking around to find her other friends, she went into a bit of panic. "Wh-where's Seiga and Yoshika?"

"I forced them to go to Eintei. They already look banged enough as it is." Reimu replied simply, her bored look returning to her face. "Looks like you guys had it rough, huh?" She added, pointing her gohei stick at the group of three.

"Pretty much." Niji said offhandedly. "What are you doing here, Reimu-san?" He asked rather cautiously.

The said Hakurei miko only shrugged. "I heard the news about the Myouren temple. Curious, so I decided to check it out. Didn't think that the extent of the damage would be this great, though." She hummed, looking at the ruined temple behind her. "I was about to check on the mausoleum, but then I meet those two, they explained to me what happened to you guys, and I forced them to go to Eintei." She stopped when she saw Futo's look of horror. "Don't worry, I didn't fight them just to convince them to go there."

Futo sighed.

"Anyways, I also heard that these things were done only by a single person, and the said person also broke the Spell Card rule from the looks of it." Reimu continued on with her explanation, although sounding a bit annoyed for some reason. "I managed to ask around for any details regarding this, apparently, the residents of the Myouren Temple is now residing at the Human Village. They managed to escape although with some serious wounds." That earned a relieved sigh from the three. "So..." She trailed off, noticing the unconscious Sixth Sword tugged by the Seventh Sword. "Is that... Him?"

"In the flesh. He destroyed both the Myouren Temple AND the Halls of Dreams' Great Mausoleum, he also stole... Miko-san? If I'm not mistaken." Niji spoke, turning his head to Futo and she nods, signalling that he got the name right. "Yeah, Miko-san's Seven Star Sword, and sealed her as well as Futo-san's other friend." He paused taking a deep breath after that long explanation. "We managed to neutralize him and unseal the two's life force, but for now I think they need medical attention."

There was a long silence before they clicked their fingers at the same time.

"Eintei." They said in perfect sync.

"Well then, Let's go-" Niji was about to take flight but a hand pulled him down. It was Reimu. "Uhh...?"

"You don't have to. Seeing this, I think you three've done enough already." She began, an impressed smile seen on her face. "I can take care of Miko and this guy. I'll get them to Eintei." At the unneeded cue, Reimu summoned several floating transparent Ying-Yang spheres. "You guys can set them down here." In which they proceeds to do so. Amazingly, they bodies are seen floating inside the transparent sphere. "Yeah, that should do. Now, I can take them over to Eintei but I'll still need someone to take care of the paperworks."

Voluntarily, Futo raised her hand up, gaining their attention. "Shrine Maiden!" She exclaimed once again. "I'll do it. I've done absolutely nothing to help my temporary hosts ever since my escape from the great mausoleum. So I think I should repay Niji-san and Alice-san's services by doing this, even though this is still certainly not enough to repay them." She said in all honesty. "I'll also take care of those... Paperworks? You've spoken of." She seemed to lost it at the mention of 'Paperworks'.

The puppeteer sighed but at the same time, put up a small smile. "Oh, Futo-san, you don't have to repay us anything." She responded rather quickly.

Niji was also quick to agree to Alice's comment. "Yep, she's right, Futo-san. Besides, we're in this together right?" He nodded, his tone was as monotone as ever.

But, unfortunately for them, their words fell into deaf ears as Futo was already floating away from them. "Shrine Maiden..." She began nervously. "I... I don't really know where is this Eintei is..." She admitted in guilt.

Alice and Reimu slapped their foreheads, while Niji, considering that he's also never been into that Eintei place silently agreed with the Shikaisen by tilting his lips upwards and simply shaking his head a few times in the rather awkward situation they're in.

"Alright, alright... I'll show you where it is." The red-white Hakurei miko said lazily, before starting to float upwards as well. "Oh, and by the way, you two..." She turned her face to the taller, same-heighted magicians once more. "Thanks." She smiled before flying away to where Futo is. Just a few seconds later, the two are now dots on the clear blue skies.

"Well, there they go..." Niji smiled faintly. It's faint, but it's there. And it's also real too. "...What?" He asked, noticing that Alice was giggling quietly, but loud enough for him to hear.

"Oh nothing." She replied rather lightheartedly. "It's just that I've never really seen you smile so bright before." She answered, smiling back to him as well.

Niji, although looked a bit surprised, sighed at the comment while maintaining the small smile. "Please, don't tease me, Miss Margatroid." He began to chuckle.

"Well, Mr. Heika, I'm not." She chuckled again, before it quickly erupted into another giggle. "In all of honesty... I think it's already rare enough just to actually see you smiling."

Niji only shrugged as he gazed into the blue skies. "Well..." He cleared his throat. "Shall we head home now, then?" He asked, with a more light tone than his usual emotionless and monotone voice, with his faint smile still visible.

Not trying to hide her emotions, Alice looked a bit surprised, especially when he said the word 'home'. The said puppeteer closed her now sharp crimson colored eyes, before chuckling thoughtfully. Alas, she opened it once again, and nodded at the usually stoic blue haired, gradient eyed magician in front of her, her smile doesn't disappear from her face. Heck, it only turned brighter.

"Right... Let's go home."

* * *

**End of Chapter Nine**

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Well, here it is guys, chapter nine! Oh, and Merry Christmas too!

Sorry for not updating for like a while I guess. I've been busy working on a new year's project. But rest assured that this story will continue.

Oh, yeah, lots to explain on this chapter, while mostly about Niji's Full Seven Sword attacks. Not going to lie, most of his commands and actions regarding the attacks mostly're taken directly from the moves spread over the large anime world and games. And also not going to lie, most ... Maybe all, came from mecha series, so don't get mad at me alright? Here's some of the moves and where'd they come from. While the sabers themselves came from Bandai - Sunrise's 00 Quanta. Copyright to them.

- **All [Optional] Sabers ; Purge** : This command is taken from Banpresto's Super Robot Taisen OG 2nd, more specifically Ing Egret's Ex Exbein's attack. Copyright goes to Banpresto for making such awesome mecha game.

- **Sabers ; Full Danmaku Burst Mode** : The command as well as the attacks came from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED series, in a more specified manner, Kira Yamato's Freedom Gundam's full burst / High-Mat [I don't know why's it called High-Mat] attack. Copyright went directly to Bandai and Sunrise. The anime's not really good though, especially on the storyline.

- **Sabers ; Attack** : Not so special command here. The move is taken from Setsuna F. Seiei's Gundam 00 Quanta's Sword bits' attack combo. This is from the movie Mobile Suit Gundam 00 : A Wakening of the Trailblazer. Once again, copyright goes to Sunrise and Bandai. The movie's great in my opinion.

- **Sabers ; Formation - Azure Storm** : Now, going back to Banpresto, this command as well attack as well as the ending 'Sword-catching' pose, was taken directly from Ing Egret's Ex Exbein's T-LINK Saber attack from the SRW OG 2nd. Once again, the copyright goes out to Banpresto.

And about Alice. I'm not sure if this theory really works, but from what I've heard, Alice could 'advance' to her next 'Color Stage'. This is triggered if she 'dies'. Now I don't know for sure, but I'm putting this theory into work here. Don't want our favorite strangely rumored to be 'tsundere' puppeteer to be written off that easily, right? And from what I could remember, 'Red' was her second weakest, while 'Blue' was her weakest color.

And... I made Futo call Reimu 'Shrine Maiden', for a reason. Hope you're not mad.

Oof, what a long dam author's note. Well, I shouldn't keep you guys reading this, right? Alas, as usual, thanks for reading, I hope you guys enjoyed the story so far. Not forgetting my usual... Traesto!

And, Merry Christmas again!


	11. Chronicles of the Rainbow

_I found myself walking down aimlessly in the dark. There's no one. There's nothing. This is just a place that's completely devoid of everything. I didn't know wh am I walking like this. My feet feels light, even though I must've been walking for several hours now. My gradient eyes just kept their endless stare to the front. Last time I did this... When I was like in what... High School? Yeah. In High School. Where am I exactly? I've never actually seen this place before._

_Hmm? What's that? Is that, a light, in the distance? Yeah. Talk about perfect timing. I hate walking in the dark. It just made my paranoia worse. I lightly jog to the source of light which is getting closer by the second, much to my relieve. When I arrived at the place, I could only see a campfire with a small log that's meant for sitting beside the fire. There's no tent. Only the fire, and two logs._

_I find the warmth of the fire somewhat... Inviting. I look around for someone that might set the little spot up but I found nothing. So I shrugged, and sat at the small wooden log beside the yellow and crimson fire. The small flame provided me with the warm needed to survive this damn void. I think it would be better if someone actually talks to me, though..._

_"Oh, you're here." Came a voice behind me, causing me to spin my head around to identify the source._

_My gradient colored eye met a male figure, standing up. With me surprised, I jumped back in defense. Unfortunately for me, I tripped over the log and was about to fall, back first into the fire. I thought I was done for. Until I feel my body somewhat froze. I opened my eyes again to see that the figure is holding my hand, stopping me from falling to the fire._

_I stood back up and regained my lost composure. I guess I should thank him._

_"Well... Uh, thanks." I bowed down, rather nervously to him._

_He only chuckled with a really fatherly tone, somehow so familiar in my ears. "No need, son." He replied with a light tone._

_I took the chance to analyze his looks. An average length hair which style is rather similar to mine, but it's colored in silver instead of dark blue like mine. Two pairs of azure colored orbs, a warm smile radiating from his lips, he's wearing a white dress shirt... That looks exactly like mine, minus the Arcanum's insignia on the collar, a black trousers and a pair of black sneakers. He's taller than me by a few inches. Alright, I admit. Standing at an unimpressive 167 CM does hurt. His looks are pretty much similar to mine._

_He looks older... Yep, way older than me. Probably on his early thirties. Well... Counting my birth age, I'm maybe older than him, but considering I'm counting my Youkai age cycle, I'm probably younger than him._

_"Why are you still standing? Just sit down already." He said a little jokingly. Which reminds me that he's already sitting, while I'm still blankly staring at him._

_Snapping out of my thoughts, I complied, sitting down at the log beside him. The warm now shrouding both of us, with nothing but the flames making those sounds, I sure love the tranquility._

_"So, how'd you like the fire?" He asked, his silver hair swaying slightly._

_I hummed. "Yeah." An engineer's answer._

_"Yeah?" He repeated, chuckling slightly. "If someone asks you a 'how' question, you don't answer them with 'yeah', son." He laughed._

_I tilted my mouth slightly, forming up a frown. But yeah, I agree with him._

_"So..." I began, the curiosity spiking up inside me. "Who are you? It's like I've seen you around but at the same time, never actually seen you around." I think I got tongue tied while saying that, considering he was laughing heartedly at me. To be honest, I don't really like it when people call me 'son'. except for my mom, that is. But from this man right here? I don't know why, but I really like it when he calls me that._

_"Me?" He patted himself on his chest once, I nodded, looking at him expectantly. "Well, I'm **Rai Izanagi**." His smiled grew wider. "I'm your dad."_

_"What?"_

_"Oh, looks like you're waking up. Hehe, sorry for the sudden declaration. By the way... I left a surprise at your bag."_

* * *

**Project Shrine Maiden : Lost Colors**

**Chapter Ten : Chronicles of the Rainbow**

* * *

"Gah?!" Niji yelled, waking up from his sleep and jolting downwards from the chair, face first into the wooden floor, his head slammed the ground at gravity's acceleration speed. Causing a loud thud to echo around the room. The swordsman recovered from the sudden fall and rubbed his face a few times. A cold sweat ran down from his forehead and his skin paled. "W-what the hell was that?" He asked to himself.

He had a look of confusion and horror on his face, his rainbow eyes widening. Almost immediately, he buried his face on his hands, with several grunts escaping from his mouth. Was it a dream? Or was it real? Was that man that he met in his 'dream' really his...

...Oh yeah. It's been a few days since that incident. Since Futo didn't really leave a message about she will be back or not to the house, Niji, being somewhat paranoid about it, decided to keep sleeping on the couch, while leaving his room vacant, afraid that the Shikaisen would return suddenly in night. They haven't really visit them to Eintei. Of course, Futo herself would occasionally come to visit them once in a while, but only to give them updates on the progress.

* * *

_"Miko-sama and Tojiko are doing well on the recovery. Eirin-san said that they should wake up in a few more days." She informed with a hint of cheerfulness present on her tone._

_The blue haired swordsman tilted his head to his side. "Who's Eirin?"_

_"**Eirin Yagokoro. The Brain of the** **Moon**. She's a lunarian who came to Gensokyo. She is now serving as the doctor over at Eintei." Came the short answer, courtesy of Alice._

_Futo nods. "That's correct. And as she said, they'll be able to return to their full strength, given a few more days of rest."_

_Both of her temporary hosts exhaled in relieve. "That's good to hear, Futo-san." Chimed Alice, a small smile present on her face, with Niji nodding with agreement._

_Niji's face however was somewhat a little bit distant. "Umm, and how about... You-know-who?" He was referring to Seis. Which he doesn't want to speak his name ever again, like it's a taboo for doing so. Everyone's smile faded from their face, and a stern look replaced it instead._

_"Well, he's recovering from his injuries, but Eirin-san said that he's not showing any signs of waking up soon." The Shikaisen replied a bit hesitantly._

_Niji sighed. "Alright. Thanks for the info, by the way."_

_Futo nodded back to him. "Well then, I must be going soon." She stood up from the main couch of the living room, also putting on her eboshi in the process._

_This however, gained her a somewhat disappointed look from the magicians. "You're not going to stay?" Alice asked, slightly hanging her head down._

_"Oh, right. Thank you for the offer, Alice-san. I appreciate it, but I'm afraid I'll need to stay at the Crown Prince's side for the time being, especially when her hunter is also being treated at Eintei." Futo shook her head, politely declining. "I'll also need to tend to the relief as well as the rebuilding efforts for the Myouren Temple and my home."_

_Seeing the sudden change of their expression, looks like her reasoning worked out well. "Well, just give us a call if you need anything. We'll come flying as fast as we could." Niji replied, of course with his monotone voice. "And one more thing... Don't be afraid to come back. You'll always have a spot here." Alice smiled as she heard the comment, nodding in agreement with him._

_Futo giggled lightly. "Of course. Well then, Niji-san, Alice-san, I'll take my leave now."_

* * *

With a now slowing breath, Niji rested his head on the couch again. He looked out the window only to see stars still decorating the night skies of Gensokyo. The residents of the Margatroid House. Namely only him and Alice herself should be sleeping at this hour. But seeing that he just had this strange dream, he couldn't bring himself back to sleep again. His calm composure returned as his body finally laid back down on the couch again.

... But his gradient eyes stayed open. Not bothering to close it since he's not going back to his slumber anyways. He picked himself up from the couch and made his way through the dark and silent house, of course, with no dolls working at the premises. If you ask him now, he would say that it's weird, seeing how his eyes usually pick dolls flying around cheerfully around the resident, doing the houseworks.

Occasionally, he would stumble over things and would curse silently and his right foot, which, much to his dismay, would hit 'a few' things scattered around the house. He arrived at the kitchen area and looked at the traditional stove.

"I don't like tea." He mumbled simply. "I'll have paranoia issues if I drink coffee." He continued. "Milk." He rolled his eyes blankly, turning the stove on. The small red flame came to life as he simply threw a match into the firewood.

But somehow, seeing those fires, it reminded him on that dream again. He hung his head low, letting his bangs to cover his eyes. Seeing nothing but a shade of very dark blue. A single sigh escaped from his mouth. And a really frustrated sigh it is. Pushing his bangs aside with his free hand, he regained his free vision again, noticing his other hand, which is right beside the stove, is burning. He stared at it blankly.

"_...Ke._"

* * *

Back to the seat with a bandaged right hand and a glass of warm milk in the left, Niji plopped himself into a sleepless night. Then he remembered something.

_"... A surprise in your bag."_

With that, Niji shot up from his seat and heads into his room in silence. There's only one way to find out. He picked his courier bag up, and shoved his hand inside. Ruffling through the contents of his small bag, he could feel something cold. Noticing the sudden unfamiliar presence inside his courier bag, he pulled the thing out without a second wasted.

"Are you... Kidding me." His eyebrow twitched.

A freaking... MP3 Player. Please hold on a second, Niji has stopped working. Send crash report to windows?

- Yes

**- No**

The swordsman stared at the object in his hands blankly with his gradient colored eyes. His mouth tilted and slightly gaping. A comical sweat ran down from his forehead. He glared at the unmoving object, it would be so serious if it wasn't so comical. But then, his sudden breakdown disappeared, his once again calm look returned. He gave the object an analyzing look.

"It's really an MP3 Player... But how the hell?" Thanks to his random knowledge from the outside world, Niji prevails. He spun the music player around to see this... '**;)**'. "An... Emoticon?" He asked loudly. But it's impossible. Last time he checked, he didn't bring any stuff from the Outside World in his bag... Then the guy in his dreams...

"God dammit." He pushed the electrical device back into his bag. "Everyone in Gensokyo will flip upside down if they saw me wearing this." It's tempting... But he relents. Tired, frustrated and confused, he puts a hand up to his temple and groaned loudly. He slapped himself after doing so. "You're going to wake the whole house up, Heika..." Grumbling slightly, he sighed.

But... The only residents in the house were...

"_Shut up, author, I know._"

* * *

The next morning, Alice opened her now restored crystalline blue eyes. Yawning quietly, she picked herself up from the soft bed, and making it up with her dolls. She got dressed in her usual attire. Today is their weekly schedule to go to the Human Village for resupplying. She opened the door, expecting to see an empty house, but instead, she finds Niji, sitting on a chair, with a glass of milk in hand.

Color her surprised. The swordsman was never really a morning person. But he's now up, earlier than her? She smiled silently at the thought before shoving it away. The puppeteer made her presence known to him by simply walking up near the chair and snapping her finger, cuing the other dolls to begin their work. The blonde magician herself sat at the chair across him.

"Morning." She greeted, finally breaking Niji's seemingly endless staring contest with the Mother Nature outside.

He gave an acknowledging 'Hmph', giving the signal that he got the greeting up with his ears. "Morning yourself." He replied shortly,with his tone wary and tired.

"Sleep well?" Alice took a cup of tea served by none other than Hourai, Alice's other favorite doll.

The swordsman shook his head. "Didn't sleep." Tone groggy, he mumbled out. "Probably just an Insomnia." He continued with a lie.

Taking one small sip from the brown liquid and placing the cup down into the small plate, Alice looks puzzled. "Insomnia?"

"Don't tell me that medical term is also not familiar here at Gensokyo..." He whined, weirdly, his groan came out monotone and simple. "Dear lord..." He sighed. "Insomnia is like a disease when you're having trouble sleeping. One who has this disease can't usually sleep at night." There goes the worried expression... "Nothing serious. It happens to everyone."

"I see." She... Saw?

Niji then noticed the color of her eyes, which is now blue again. "Alice... Your eyes." He pointed out, face slightly shocked and confused.

"Took you long enough to notice this..." She giggled in a quiet tone, earning a frown from your truly. "I suppose I should explain about this... Right?" She took one last sip from her cup before Shanghai takes it away to the kitchen.

Niji nods. "Go on." He hummed, rather expectantly.

"It's a long explanation... But I'll just simplify it... My color stage could reset to their original color, which is blue, given a few days of inactive magic or not doing Danmaku Battles. The magi energy stored inside my body would die down and restore themselves to a normal rate. The actual effect if used on a regular basis also only last of a week, at its maximum. Since we haven't had any Danmaku battles in five days, my energy could deflate back at a much faster rate."

"Ahh, I get it." He puts a hand up to his chin and nodded. "So, give a few days of rest, and your energy would return back to normal, also restoring your original color back to its place?" A nod came from his partner.

"I see that you're understanding things quite well." The puppeteer lightly chuckled.

Niji shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm a magician as well, if you haven't noticed." He joked dryly. "So... Repeat the process and basically it's an endless string of loop?"

She shook her head this time, making the swordsman to raise his eyebrows. "Not quite. If I overuse my powers... And if someone 'kills' me on my last color stage, which colored Golden... Then I will..." She trailed off.

"...Die?" Niji asked quietly, with a bit of a scared tone, he fidgets slightly on his seat, not forgetting the change of his expression from utter straight and dull to be rather pensive.

A long silence. "That's correct." She finally spoke up rather uneasily. "But that's _IF_ they could actually beat my at my last color level. Mind you, my powers would be magnified by seven times from this me." She continued, maybe to reassure the blue haired magician in front of her.

Still not convincing. But nothing to lose anyway. "Right..." That came out rather sarcastic... "... Next time, just don't dive yourself into the fireworks, alright?"

"No promises."

"Again, Miss Margatroid, don't tease me."

"I'm not."

* * *

Noon came into Gensokyo. The shining sun has reached into the top of the residents' heads. Zooming into the Human Village, we have two stoic magicians walking down the street of the human populated town. Of course, with most of the townsfolk evading them as usual. A somewhat irritated Niji can be heard grumbling with a straight and monotone... tone. It would be comical if someone overheard it. I mean, who mutters out some curse words with a perfectly flat tone and emotionless face?

"That butcher over there..." He mumbled in disgust, still looking back with an irritated look to the meat seller. "Why's he being so hard on Youkais...? And we're not even Youkais...! We're Youkai-Class Magicians for God's sake."

Alice sighed deeply, closing her eyes as she continued to walk on. "Unfortunately, that's what people see in us. It doesn't matter if we're magicians or not. People seeing some other people not native to their customs, they view us as a Youkai, and we can't do anything to stop them."

Niji calmed down. "I guess you're right..." He admitted rather sadly.

The two continued to walk down the main street of the village until someone approached them in a fast pace. The figure stopped in front of them with another familiar face beside her.

"Aya-san!" - "Aya!" Both of the magicians exclaimed in surprise.

The crow Tengu smiled brightly. "Hey there, Niji-san, Alice-san!" She waved her camera. "Perfect timing!"

"...?" A questioned look can be seen from the two. "What are you planning this time, Aya? And why's Akyuu-san here with you?" Alice asked, pointing a finger on the other girl beside her.

"A great question, Margatroid-san." The other girl answered this time, Niji gave her an analyzing look. A shoulder length dark violet eyes with a matching pair of violet irises. There's a flower ornament visible on her hair. She wears a colorful Kimono. Yellow sleeves with flower patterns visible on it, green colored torso, and with the skirt part colored in deep red. She looks like a human, yet at the same time, not a human.

Oh yeah, she's definitely something.

"Akyuu's here to add some new guys on her chronicle." Aya informed. "I let her know about the recent incidents and looks like she took a pique of interest in you, Niji-san." She pointed at the blue haired half-Youkai.

To be honest, he didn't really like the sound of that.

"Aya here is correct." The violet haired girl which looks like a human in her youth, she couldn't be older than twenty. "Let me introduce myself to you.** Hieda no Akyuu, Gensokyo's Chronicler**. A pleasure to meet you." She bowed down to the swordsman. "And please, just refer me by the name of Akyuu." She kinda made that last part 'loud and clear'.

"Likewise, Akyuu-san. Niji Heika..." He paused, not wanting to really use the title of swordsman anymore. Not ever since the attack on the mausoleum, he's still somewhat holding a grudge to it. "... **The** **Mage of Prisma**." He declared his new title, which Alice looked rather surprised, while Aya seems to just shrug it off. Akyuu just nods in acknowledgement.

"Well, Heika-san, Margatroid-san... I suppose that I should explain why am I here in detail, yes?" She asked, two nods came as the response, she began walking down the street, silently cuing the group to follow suit. "Well, to start, I apologize for the villagers' unfriendly behavior towards you two."

"Wait." Niji interjected. "Even if we look like normal humans, why are we being avoided? But... Aya-san here's not...? No offense by the way, just a curious question." The swordsman could fell somewhat guilty after he made the question.

Aya smirked. "None taken, Niji-san." She raised her hand, dismissing the topic. "Truth be told, the residents of the Human Village actually view us Tengus at the same degree as them, so it's all good. And that would also explain why am I here talking with Akyuu." She stated, rather proudly, before her face started to become more serious. "But, yeah, it's rather unfair how the people judges the Youkais like that."

"Now, now... Back to the main topic." Ah, Akyuu, Niji almost forgot about her. "...Well, I've heard the recent events regarding the destruction of the Myouren Temple as well as the Halls of Dreams' Great Mausoleum. To put it bluntly, after I heard that you two including Mononobe-san have put an end to the supposed culprit who did that, made me interested. To put it bluntly... I want to add some of your information into my chronicles."

"It's like an interview, which I've been itching for one with you too, Niji-san." Aya simplified.

Niji raised his hands. "I understand... But I do hate feeling like a celebrity all of a sudden." He sighed, irritated.

"Don't worry, its results will not be spread public. It's only for personal archives. I have already added most of the Gensokyo's major names into the chronicles. And their personal information're still safe with me. I only brought Aya here to help me." Akyuu explained.

Niji, although convinced, still look rather uneasy. Alice herself kept her mouth shut during the whole thing.

At the end of that conversation, the four arrived at a large house, a bit traditional, but hey, they call this place a 'Village' for nothing.

"Welcome to the Hieda's Family Mansion." Akyuu politely bowed. "I suppose we are to find a proper place if we are to do this, correct?"

While Alice and Aya didn't seem to mind it, Niji was taken aback by the greeting.

* * *

"I hope tea would suffice." Akyuu took a traditional sitting position before the table, she had just dismissed one of the maids of the large house. As expected from a traditional Japanese mansion, the place is mostly furnished with elegant wooden furniture. No red carpets... Disappointing... Ahem, As I was saying...? The three are now currently at the main living room of the house. a large table, several traditional paintings, yada yada yada... All things considered, it's a nice place to stay in.

"That's okay, Akyuu-san. I'm not really thirsty anyway." Niji rolled his eyes, before feeling a light tap on his shoulder. "Hmm?"

"_Niji, is it fine for you, if I sit this one out?_" Alice whispered, the swordsman gave her a look of questioning. "_I'll just be walking around the village, buying more supplies._"

The swordsman pouted. "Sure, I guess, I mean, no one's stopping you now, right?"

His fellow magician only smiled faintly at him before standing up to leave. "Well, I'll be taking my leave now. We'll meet again on the city center this afternoon, is it acceptable?"

"Very." Niji waved farewell-y to her.

She nodded to him, before leaving the swordsman alone with Akyuu and Aya. A few seconds later, the maid entered the room, setting the glass down and also pouring the tea to the guests currently present there. The mage stared at the brown liquid blankly, somewhat reluctant to take a sup from it. He relents from drinking it, he's not that thirsty anyway.

"Now, shall we begin...?" Akyuu asked with serious tone, with Aya had her notepad and camera ready at her hands.

One deep breath. "Sure."

"Right, let's start with a formal introduction, shall we? Mind telling us your full name?" Aya asked, pen already scribbling something on her notepad.

"I think I've told you this, but yeah, my full name's Niji Heika."

"And your title?"

"Mage of Prisma." He answered with no hesitation.

Aya began to take some notes down.

"Based on your title, is it safe that we can classify you as a magician?" Akyuu asked this time, the swordsman nodded. "Ah, right. So, you don't mind telling a bit of yourself, don't you, Heika-san?"

"Of course not."

* * *

_**Hieda no Akyuu's Chronicle**_

_Journal Entry Number :#1602_

_**The Mage of Prisma**_

_**Niji Heika **_

_Race : Magician (Youkai-Class)_

_Abilities : Manipulation of light and color [Prism]_

_Threat level : Beyond average_

_Human Friendship Level : Average - Beyond average - High._

_He is a swordsman that came from the Far East [Which is west from the village location, for some reason]. He is a Magician that hails from a group called the Legendary Arcanum. Although his exact age is unknown, he seems to like a human on his teenage years, less than twenty to be exact. He currently resides with a fellow Magician, Alice Margatroid at the Forest of Magic._

_Unlike the other magicians who used their abilities solely to hone their magi energies, this particular magician could also do some swordsplay, hence the swords visible on his waist and his shoulders. Like most of the magicians present at Gensokyo, he also takes the form of a Human being. Niji himself however refrained from speaking about his family and his bloodline, respecting his decision, we shall not pry into this subject any more further._

_He's the youngest member of the Order of the Seven Swordsmen, although he confirmed that he had already cut his ties with them since the attack of the Myouren Temple, at spring this year. The said order of swordsmen are well known for its nearly flawless swordsmanship, and swordcraftings. After the assault on Myouren Temple, he effectively backs down from the group, and would remain it that way until further information is gathered._

_To be noted, he's also the youngest and the last surviving member of a group of magicians called the Legendary Arcanum. With its Wizard-Class magician leader now disappeared, it effectively made Niji to be the one and only active member of the group. The Arcanum itself has its own story, but Niji himself once again, refrained from telling us the backstory of his group. Of course, we won't pry this subject._

_At first glance, he seems to be a normal human teenager, but of course, his knowledge is far greater surpassing any humans, as any magicians would do. He has the power to control and manipulate light, changing them into color and vice versa._

_Abilities :_

_Control over light and color._

_As his title suggests, he can use his power to manipulate light and color. Mostly using them for Danmaku Battles. As a normal Prism would do, he could absorb any form of light and turn them into the color of rainbows. The main fuel source for him to continue his battle's only a light source. He could also manipulate the color of the everything, ranging from nature to clothes to food and even going as far as the color of blood and gen as well as DNA, even to the smallest of nucleus._

_Swordsmanship._

_As expected from the member of the order, he swordplay are unquestionably near perfect. As his former title is the 'Sword of Seven', he could use seven swords at once, of course, this action could only be done by using his magic. The real secret to his magic and swordplay however are still unknown at the moment._

_Knowledge of the Outside World._

_Although unknown to the wielder itself, Niji possesses a wide knowledge of the Outside World, anything that's uncommon here at Gensokyo, he could identify it easily. It is currently unknown why, when, and / or how he got this knowledge, he said that everything just came out in instinct, if someone or he himself mentions an object from the outside world._

* * *

"Would that suffice?" Niji asked, his tone tired, probably from too much question.

"That would be more than sufficient, Heika-san. Thank you very much for you cooperation." Akyuu smiled also a bit warily, probably noticing the tired state of the swordsman.

"One last thing, though..." Aya perked her camera up. "Can I take a picture of you?"

"Sure...?" The mage nodded sheepishly.

A click was heard, and after explaining that he should be going to meet the puppeteer at the village's center, he walked up to the front door. Only to be stopped by Aya again, seeing that his freedom was short lived, Niji frowned, but turned his face to her anyway.

"What is it?" He asked, maybe a bit annoyed, although it didn't sway from his usual emotionless manner.

Aya pulls out an article. "I almost forgot about this." She showed the paper up to the swordsman. It's about the Hakurei Shrine's Flower Viewing Event. "The event's being held in a few days." She informed.

Niji tilted his head to the sides. "And? What about it?"

"Oh, just wondering if you'll come to the party." She grinned.

He hummed, once again, putting a hand up to his chin. "I don't know. It's ultimately not my decision, though. It's Alice's. If she goes I go. Cause... You know, about the recent incidents."

Chuckling, Aya nods to him. "Alright, alright, now let's go. I'll get you to the town's center."

* * *

Alice is sitting quietly beside a fountain at the center of the town, Shanghai was just swaying her feet whilst sitting beside her master. Her eyes would occasionally look from left to right, as if expecting someone to come, and she's right. Niji and Aya can be seen walking to her in a somewhat slow pace. With her patience somewhat losing itself, she took off from the chair and walk up to them, not forgetting to pick up the bag full of supplies, with the dolls carrying them, of course.

"Sorry... That took a lot of time, huh?" Niji apologizes, using his hand to push his head down.

Seeing that she could tolerate him, she smiled. "Yeah, you sure took your sweet time." She smirked, maybe rather playfully.

"FYI, I didn't call that. And, before you ask any questions, FYI means For Your Information." Niji answered instantly, not bothering to take a breath between the sentence, afraid that he would be cut off by two girls asking him '_FYI?_'.

"Hello again, Alice-san." Aya greeted, finally gaining the attention of the puppeteer.

"Ah, Aya." She responded shortly. "I didn't think that you would also come here to the village's center. Is something the matter?"

"Actually, yeah. I've asked Niji-san about this before but he said, the final verdict's must be coming out of your mouth... So..." Niji gave both of them a look that says '_I didn't say that!_' Sadly, it was ignored, as Alice's too absorbed to the paper that Aya had just pulled out of her pocket.

The puppeteer examined the article carefully, not wanting to misread or skip even a word of its contents. She raised an eyebrow. "Hakurei Shrine's Flower Viewing Event?" She repeated the words printed on the paper. "You mean the Hanami Festival?"

The crow Tengu nods excitedly. "Uh-huh, and everyone'll probably invited to the party! Come on, it'll be a blast."

Alice pouted thoughtfully at the idea, even the swordsman beside her is somewhat interested at the event, the look of his pensive face is so obvious.

She smiled, turning her eyes to the swordsman. "If he goes... I go."

* * *

**End of Chapter Ten**

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Hello people, and happy New Year! ... 's Eve. Here's a chapter to celebrate the upcoming year! And thanks for the lovely 2000 reads! You guys are awesome! :)

So, say hello to your new character title, Mage of Prisma. Please note that Prisma means Prism in English.

And now to the more unfortunate matter. After so long, this story has finally lost one of its followers. i mean, wow, what a way to end this year, lol. Oh no, I'm not sad or disappointed at the person who unfollowed this story, I'm pretty much got disappointed at myself, for not be able to create a better story for the readers to enjoy. It's okay though, it's your decision whether to follow or not follow this story, it's your freedom and I will respect that.

And the main reason I'm even writing is not because I want followers or reviews at the first place. I'm doing this because of my love for the series. If you guys enjoyed it, then I thank you, the sole purpose itself, is just for you guys who have read the story so far could enjoy the not so full splendor of this story. I know, every story has its own plus and minus. And I also know that this story still has a LOT of minuses.

Once again, I respect your decision whether to like or not to like this story. I even accept flames. I take them as constructive criticism instead. Oh, and I'm also sorry for the mistakes I've made during the story.

But all things considered, it's alright.

By the way, thanks for reading. I've decided to not explain this chapter in order to avoid any spoiling issues. Thanks for reading guys, I hope you enjoyed the story so far, and lastly, best wishes for the upcoming year! Traesto!


	12. Hanami

"Okay, Alice, please, explain to me why do I have to wear this thing again?" Niji asked his fellow magician from his room. Okay, so here's the story, the two accepts the invitation to the Hanami Festival, time skip three days into the day and it's time for the magicians to dress up 'properly' for the event. Niji, not really being a traditional lover kind of guy, kept refusing to wear his Hakama. He thought that he would look weird in one of those.

Alice exhaled loudly from her room, repairing her Yukata's sash. "Oh, come on, Niji. It's not like you'll wear those everyday." She replied with the same amount of volume Niji had used to speak to her from his own room. Her dolls are helping her with her own Yukata. Her Yukata is colored in deep blue with minimal red flower patterns visible on the skirt parts. It blends in well with the color of her eyes and the red hairband visible on her short blonde hair.

Niji's Hakama, however was a completely different story. The main torso part was colored in dark blue with the top fading to pale silver maybe even gray, the gradient color actually matched his usual attire. The swordsman refused to wear the Hakama's bottom part, and wore his dark blue trousers instead. Seeing himself looking like an idiot on the mirror, he gritted his teeth and used all of his nerves to refrain from punching the wall. Inside his mind is an image where everyone laughing at him due to his weird attire.

Isn't it ironic for someone that came from the Far East to hate Eastern traditions?

"Alright, this is too much." He groaned, taking off the Hakama and picking up his usual white dress shirt. He slides the uniform like attire into his body and unfolds its arms, with its long sleeves and his vest ACTUALLY zipped up this time, an elegant and formal aura _might_ just came out from him. He picked his gray colored cloak and instead of tying it up around his neck to cover his torso, he rearranged the cloak to only cover his left arm, with his Danmaku support mechanism locking the actual cloth in place.

The swordsman picked both of his gun-blades up and went out the room, tidying up his bangs so it would not hinder his already bad vision. He walked out of the door, and waits at the living room of the house, it's still early in the afternoon, really. But considering this will be his first night out, he would like to make it worth it. A few seconds later, Alice walks out of her room as well.

Both of the magicians looked at each other, each with an analyzing look plastered on their faces. "Why aren't you wearing your Hakama...?" Alice asked, in a low tone, slightly intimidating. Her dolls behind her giving out an aura of rage. If it were someone else, they'll probably crap their pants out. But since we're talking about an emotionless magician over here...

Niji just shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't feel like it." He replied simply, his expression bored and dull. "Your sash's also a bit tilted." He pointed out with his hidden left hand, but the pointing finger is actually visible to see.

Noticing the flat comment he just gave to her, Alice just huffed, before commanding her dolls to fix her sash. "Well, at least you're actually dressing properly." She muttered.

"I'll take that as a compliment, then." He joked flatly. Wait... Was that a joke? "You don't look half-bad yourself."

The puppeteer gave out a mock hurt expression. "Half-bad?" But she went silent after. "...But, thanks."

Niji rolled his eyes. "Yeah..." He replied rather sarcastically, although, not seen by anyone except himself, he was smiling.

* * *

**Project Shrine Maiden : Lost Colors**

**Chapter Eleven : Hanami**

* * *

The two arrived at the shrine rather early. It's still rather early, so no one's really in sight at the shrine. Even the Hakurei miko is nowhere to be seen. As expected, the sakura trees are at their full bloom, which is a really nice sight to see. The ground is littered with the pink colored petals. When the two set their steps down just pass the red torii, they went awkwardly silent.

"Do you want to... Check the inside?" Alice asked suddenly, almost startling the swordsman beside her.

Niji 'hmph'ed in agreement. "Sure." He replied, walking first into the shrine grounds. When they're just about to knock the door, it slides open by itself, revealing a short girl before them, much to their surprise.

The girl had a long strawberry blonde, maybe almost orange hair and brown eyes. She wore a white blouse with tattered sleeves and a long dark purple skirt with pink edge trimmings. One thing though... There's horns... Horns, sticking out from her head, and the horns are decorated with ribbons, the right horn has a red colored ribbon, while the left one has the polar opposite color, blue. There's also chains... Chains, on both of her wrists. She slung a purple colored gourd over her shoulder.

There's this alcoholic stench coming out from her. Niji instinctively covered his nose, not standing the smell. It smells like sake... Alice herself looked mildly annoyed by the sudden stench of the hard liquor.

"Hey there~" She doesn't seem to be sober... "What'cha two doin' here?"

Alice took a step forward, letting herself into the shrine building. "Well, Suika, we're here for the Hanami Festival." She answered casually.

"I see~" She hiccuped once, before laying her eyes down to the swordsman. "And who might you be? Haven't seen you around before..."

The swordsman himself didn't follow his fellow magician into the shrine, instead, he stood at the veranda of the shrine with his arms crossed. "Niji... Niji Heika, The Mage of Prisma." He introduced himself rather reluctantly.

She wiped out a slur from her mouth before smacking her chest rather proudly. Of course, being drunk has its own effects on her... "Well, the name's **Suika. Suika Ibuki. I'm the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.**" She took one big gulp from her gourd which made the taller swordsman to drop a cold sweat. She shoved her gourd to the swordsman and playfully shook it around. "Want some sake?"

"No thanks, Suika-san. I don't drink" He replied quickly. No. Just NO. He can't stand alcoholic drinks.

A teasing drunken smile appeared on her face. "You're a guy, and you're a lightweight? Hah, what is this world coming to...?~" She mumbled off, taking more fast, deep, and big gulps from her purple gourd. "By the way, you can drop the honorifics... Just Suika would do..."

"Eh... Right." The mage's eyebrow twitched, before heading into the main shrine building himself, leaving Suika alone with her drink. That was just scary. He went into the kitchen area of the shrine to find Reimu in her usual miko outfit with Alice right beside her, both of them chattering about something. The mage made his presence known to them simply just by knocking the door once."

"Ah, Niji-san. I was just wondering where you are..." The miko spoke with her usual lazy tone, setting up some cups on the table. "I'm sorry that I couldn't greet you two when you arrived. As you can see, my hands are tied tight enough as it is, and that Oni hasn't done anything to help me to prepare for the Hanami Festival." She continued, sighing deeply.

"The Oni?" Niji asked, quite curiously.

"Reimu here was actually referring to Suika, that drunken girl you met just a few minutes ago." Alice explained, shifting her sash slightly. Must be uncomfortable in that thing.

Niji suddenly shuddered at the mention of her. The amount of alcohol she drank was just terrifying. "Oh yeah... Her." He mumbled quietly. "Is she always like that anyway?"

Reimu nods. "Suika? Oh yeah, she's been drunk and will always be drunk. That purple gourd she always carry around, there's an infinite amount of sake stored in it. To be honest, I've never seen her sober, not even once. She's always drunk, she even fights Danmaku in her drunken state." She added, maybe with a rather amusing tone this time.

"Interesting." The swordsman hummed.

The miko suddenly went quiet as she continued to stack up the glasses on the table. "Umm, I hate to ask... But can you two please help me with the preparations for the Hanami? I'll pay both of you back for this, I promise. But this thing's getting out of hand, and the guests should be here by the next few hours." She requested, sounds rather desperate if you ask Niji.

Both of the magicians exchanged their glances for a seconds, before nodding in a sync. "Sure."

* * *

For the next hour, the three would work to prepare the Hakurei Shrine for the flower viewing festival. Reimu, setting up the foods and drinks at the inside, Alice using her dolls made quick work with the courtyard, it's like the shrine grounds magically turned into a perfect stage for a festival such as this. Niji made himself busy by setting up the decorations. The festival itself's going to start late at the afternoon. Of course, Suika was already passed out from too much drinking.

By the end of the hour, they're already done with the work. The three sat quietly at the veranda of the shrine, somewhat exhausted. Niji had his clothes back to their informal style. His vest now unzipped and his arms folded back up. Reimu once again enters the picture, bringing two glass of a cold water for the two to drink.

"Sorry..." She set the tray down. "Out of lemonade." She admitted.

For the two however, just a glass of that refreshing water was already enough for them. Graciously taking the glasses into their hands, they took one big gulp from the glass.

"This is more that enough, Reimu-san... Thanks." Niji puts the glass away from him, the water reaching half of the glass already, Alice following suit.

"No, I should be the one thanking you guys. If you two weren't here then..." She trailed off, a sheepish smile forming on her face, before spotting a black dot flying towards the shrine. "Oh, I think that's Marisa." She squinted her dark colored orbs into the distance. And she was right. The black-white witch was flying towards them at high speed, of course with her broom.

The said self-proclaimed magician landed just a few feet away from them. She jumped off her flying stick with that trademark always confident grin plastered on her face. Today, she's wearing something a little bit different. An actual eastern Yukata, it's colored in black with white circle patterns printed on the surface. The skirt is made shorter, extending just to her knees, instead of covering her whole legs. The small braid is still present there on the side.

"Yo, Reimu, Alice, Niji! It's been a while, ze!" She exclaimed happily, waving her hand numerous times.

Alice sighed. "It's only been a week, Marisa."

"It's good to see you again, Marisa-san." Niji nodded politely to her.

Marisa examined the apparel of the two magicians in front of her. "Nice gigs, you two!" Her grin turned brighter, elbowing the two in the process, this, however, earned her a glare from the mages before her. Causing her grin to falter slightly, but it's still obviously present alright. Seriously, what does it take to break the morale of the Marisa Kirisame?

The red-white miko giggled. "You're not that bad yourself, Marisa. Who would've thought that you would ACTUALLY wear those things?" She asked playfully, and maybe rather sarcastically.

"Hey, that was uncalled for, you know!" Marisa yelled at her long time friend, everyone just chuckled at her childish reaction. And the four would be engaged in a lighthearted, heartwarming, and of course, friendly conversations for the next few hours.

* * *

It's now in the afternoon, but not dusk yet, maybe about 2.00. As expected most of the residents of Gensokyo (mostly the Youkais) have already arrived at the shrine grounds, wearing colorful traditional clothes. Reimu and three, being way too absorbed at their small talk quickly realized that the main shrine area's already getting crowded from all of the guests. But Niji felt really uneasy. Why?

It's obvious. It's him, being the only guy around there. That would make things considerably more awkward.

Reimu stood up. "Ah, looks like everyone's here." She hummed. "So okay, let's get this thing started. The wind's blowing pretty nicely." She continued.

"So, what now?" Niji asked, still unfamiliar with the customs of the East... Ironically.

Suika suddenly pops up. "Just blend in~" She spoke, still with that drunken tone, her totally not sober grin plastered her face which is colored in deep red. Not from a blood rush, but from too much drinking. "This here's Hanami's is about to enjoy the spring's full bloom, boy...~" Then, a hiccup happened.

"Believe it or not, Suika's actually right, Niji." Marisa had amused look on her face on how Suika managed to get it right. "Just go do some stuff with the crowd, ya know, try to get to know them better."

Reimu swings her Gohei... When did she pulls out her Gohei? "Both of them are right... Well, now, I need to tend to the guests, you guys have some fun there." She then proceeds to glare at the drunken Oni. "Suika, you wouldn't mind if you help me with this one, wouldn't you?" She said it so slowly, so quietly, so delicately, so gracefully, so... threatening... So... Intimidating. Everyone present in the group dropped a cold sweat.

Suika tensed up, and she went a little bit sober after that... Request. "S-sure! Ehehe!" The Oni stammered out, standing up herself.

And with that, the two went inside the shrine to do God-knows-what. Leaving the three magicians, still sitting at the shrine's veranda.

"Well, I'm gonna go bug some of the guys from the Human Village, ze." Marisa stood up, a mischievous grin present on her face. "You two have fun."

And then there's the residents of the small Margatroid house.

"Okay... What now?" Niji asked, breaking the awkward silence between the two. The puppeteer herself was shifting her gazes from left to right, trying to find someone that can actually be noted.

She smiled when her eyes landed on someone. "Oh, he's here too." She murmured to herself, before standing up. "Well, I think I've found the right person you want to talk to for the time being, Niji." Mused the puppeteer. "Follow me, if you please."

"Right." The swordsman stood up, following the blonde haired puppeteer from the behind, through the crowd they could hear some chatters could be heard from the other guests attending the flower viewing event. It really is crowdy there. And whoa, how could he feel the stares from the other guests... Being the only guy present there sure made things a lot worse for him.

Then they arrived on one of the sakura tress scattered around the small shrine grounds. Is that... A guy, Niji just saw? Yeah, he's definitely a guy. The man is currently sitting. He has a short silver hair with a pair of golden eyes, he's also wearing a pair of clear lens glasses with black square frames and handles. Now, the weird thing about this guys is his clothes. He's wearing a set of clothes that is colored in half-black half-blue. There's also a small brown bag slung over his shoulder.

"It's good to see you again, Rinnosuke-san." Alice spoke up, trying to get his attention.

The man raised his face to find the sight of the two magicians. "Ah, Alice! You actually came." He exclaimed rather happily, standing up to greet them in eye level. He's taller than the two, obviously. "Ah, and you must be her friend that she was talking about, right?" His gold eyes turned and landed on the one and only swordsman present at the area currently.

Niji spun his head around, then he realized that the question was directed at him. "Oh... Right... Yeah..." He cleared his throat. "Niji Heika. Mage of Prisma. Pleased to meet you." He held his hand out.

And the man gave him a friendly smile and shook his hand. "Pleased to meet you as well, Niji. My name's **Rinnosuke Morichika. The Unmoving Used Goods Seller**." Wow, what a title. Even Niji himself could be seen surprised. "As you probably noticed, I own the shop called Kourindo." He stated, maybe with a bit of pride.

Kourindo... Oh, that Junk Yard. "I see." He replied monotonely.

"Do take notes that he sells things from the outside world." After that statement left the puppeteer's mouth, Niji's eyes went wide. Seeing that her attempt to surprise him was successful, she giggled quietly.

"Really?!" Niji sounded a bit more excited this time, which is very rare, considering he's usually emotionless. "Holy Cr-" He stopped himself abruptly. "Dear Lord, that's awesome!" He exclaimed, strangely, even though he's obviously interested in the news that just entered his ears, he said those words with a completely straight face. It's kinda scary to see someone yelling happily with a straight face, aye?

Rinnosuke, sharing a same surprised look as the swordsman in front of him, later chuckled knowingly. "Yes, in the matter of fact I do." He added a single nod to confirm that. "Most of the things sold at the shop are pretty much not native to Gensokyo's residents."

"But, how'd you get those things?" Niji asked, curious.

Then, they could hear something creeping behind them, turning their face to the back, there's the sage of the Youkais, Yukari Yakumo, herself, in her usual attire. She hid her face beneath that violet colored fan of hers, she's also just hanging her body by the portal she just opened.

"How else?" Yukari asked him back with a playful tone. "It's because I'm his supplier." She informed. Niji could swore, beneath that fan, she's grinning.

The used good seller nods. "That's correct. It is thanks to Yukari-san right here, I could get most of the things currently on sale at the Kourindo."

"Sick." Niji commented, impressed. "You don't happen to have an energy cell, don't you, Rinnosuke-san? I think one of my Gun-blades are running out of shots." He pulled out the Leviathan which is already losing its blue colored trimmings on the bladed part.

"Energy Cell?" This time, the silver haired man looks confused.

"Here, lemme show you." Niji ejected the cell that is stored inside the hilt of the sword, and showed the tube thingy for everyone to see. "It looks like this, and no, this is not a AAA Battery."

Yukari gave a motherly chuckle. "Niji-kun, even though Rinnosuke here sells some things from the outside world, he doesn't really possess the actual knowledge regarding the other world."

The swordsman, hearing this, hung his head low. "Ah... I see... I should've guessed as much. This thing's a bit too futuristic too." He inserted the dying energy cell back into his gun-blade and the sword parts began to glow in a faint blue color again. "But that's okay, I can probably make them on my own. I'm just probably too lazy to do so." He stated.

"Well, you can check his shop if you're interested." Alice suggested.

Then, a metaphorical light bulb went on. "You know what, Alice? That's a great idea."

"Alice's correct, and you may browse through the things I have in my store first hand. No one ever really buy things from the outside world." He admitted a bit nervously, scratching the back of his head. Ah... So that would explain the nearly run down state of the actual building.

"Perfect." That word escaped from the swordsman's mouth. "I'll be sure to check your shop, Rinnosuke-san." Again, there's the faint smile present on his face. "By the way, Yukari-san...-" Owhp, she's gone. The blue haired mage sighed.

But then, the group turned their heads to see a group landing on the shrine grounds. Ah, looks like the Scarlet Devil Mansion's residents are running a little late. There's Remilia, Sakuya, Meiling, Patchouli... Flandre's there too. Wait. Flandre.

"_A Promise's a promise, Flandre-kun._" Yep, he still owe her something... "Guys... Excuse me for a sec."

He jogged lightly to where the newcomers are. The residents of the mansion were quick to notice him, Remilia raised an eyebrow, seeing how the swordsman literally shoving everyone out of his way although in a very polite manner. He would repeat the words excuse me and sorry a few times. For the others, they just stared at the approaching magician with a confused look.

"Hey, guys." Niji stopped at used this moment to catch his breath, Alice was right behind him.

"Well, if it isn't the savior of the Myouren Temple. The three of you including the Hermit are pretty much the talk of the week." Remilia spoke up, still with a slightly confused face, but a smile also visible. "Is something wrong?"

"Nah..." Niji shook his head, trying to dismiss the topic. "I'm just here to fulfill my promise to someone." His gradient colored eyes landed on the short blonde vampire, which the said Scarlet Devil's sister is tugging onto Meiling's dress.

Flandre peeked her head up, her eyes expression obviously happy to see him again. "Onii-san!" She exclaimed cheerfully, but her smile faded when she saw the image of her older sister giving her a frown. "O-onee-san..."

"Flandre?" The Scarlet Devil herself asked with a somewhat commanding tone. "What did you do this time?"

Seeing that this is going to the wrong directions, Niji took a step forward. "She didn't do anything wrong, Remilia-san." The swordsman waved his hand to negate the subject. "It just that... I've promised her that I would play with her someday." He admitted.

"Oh?" All of the anger left at Remilia's mind suddenly vanished, and an amused smirk appeared on her face instead, she turned her gaze to her somewhat scared younger sister. "Is that so, Flandre?"

"Th-that's right, onee-san..." Wow, for the vampire that has the ability to destroy everything to be seen like this is somewhat... Rare.

Alice cleared her throat, making everyone to turn their heads to face her. "Niji's right, Remilia-san." She nods once. "Besides... I think you should give her a chance. It's already uncommon to see her outside the mansion."

"I just want to make it worth it for her." Niji finished. "So, please."

The sister of the Scarlet Devil went visibly surprised. "Onii-san?"

Remilia became more amused seeing how the two are practically desperate by this time. "Hmph..." She chuckled a bit dryly, giving her sister one last glance. She waved her hands off. "Just don't go destroying things."

Flandre immediately jumped from Meiling and cheered at the top of her lungs. "Really?! Thanks, Remi-onee-san!" She skipped happily to where the two magicians are. Patchouli was watching the whole scene, although her expression still looked dull, she found it more interesting that the book in her hands. Sakuya and Meiling were simply smiling at the image before them. Remilia herself sighed deeply, but at least... She's smiling too.

* * *

The group of two magicians and one vampire walked around the crowded shrine.

"Say, Flandre-kun." Niji spoke up, gaining her attention. "Is it okay for you to be out here without an umbrella at this hour?" He has a point though. Isn't it dangerous for the vampires to be walking at broad daylight?

"Oh you mean the sun? Oh, it only makes us weak. It doesn't actually harm us, so it's all good." The vampire smiled. "So, now what should we do now? Should we do some Danmaku battles?" She proposed, maybe a little bit too excited, since there's an eerie red ball on her hands right now...

Oh bad idea... "I... Don't think that we should do that. The shrine is at risk." Alice shook her head, with Niji supporting her by nodding a few times at a fast pace.

The Scarlet Devil's sister huffed disapprovingly. "Then what should we do?"

"Why don't we just take a good look around the shrine?" The swordsman suggested. The two agreed, and they strolled around the small but now crowded shrine. They could feel uneasy gazes planted on them, probably because of Flandre. But they paid no mind to it, Flandre seems to be enjoying herself, humming a sweet tune to herself. They finally arrived before the offertory box.

Niji stared at the box blankly, with him not really believing Eastern superstition made him rather blank now, but thanks to his somewhat wide knowledge, he kind of remember some bits of the offering process.

"Want to go wish for something, Flandre-kun?" Alice offered, pointing to the box.

The vampire nodded cheerfully. "Sure!" But she played with her thumb afterwards. "But, I don't really know how to do that."

"Don't worry, it's _kinda_ easy." Niji stepped forward, pulling out a few yens of coins. "Here, let me show you..." He guided the 'young' vampire to the offertory box of the shrine, he handed Flandre some of his money. "Here." Of course, Flandre herself was more than happy to accept it. "You too, Alice." He tossed a few coins for her to catch.

"What?" Alice asked, surprised, almost letting one of the coins escape from her hands due to his sudden actions. "That was unnecessary, you know."

"Yeepp." Niji answered nonchalantly, although he himself is not a Shinto, might as well as try his luck. "First, you toss the coins into the box, like this." He tossed a few yens into the offering box, everyone else followed suit. "Right... So, now clasp your hands a few times." While the heterochromia magician said that they should only clasp their hands, he clapped it. "Okay, now make your wish."

And then there's silence, everyone closed their eyes, focusing on their wish. A few seconds passed and the three are now finished with their wishes. Although, Niji, staying with his western religion, made a sign of the Cross shortly afterwards.

"Mm-hmm, alright, now, see this thing?" He pointed at the... Bell with a string attached to it? [I don't know what that is.] "Okay see the string? Pull it gently for a few times. Like this." He pulled the string twice and backed away from it. "You turn." After everyone has made their turns, they simply went silent.

"So, what'd you wish for, Flandre-kun?" Alice spoke up, breaking the silence between them.

Flandre hummed thoughtfully at the sudden question. "Oh, I wished Remi-onee-san would let me outside more often!" She told them, not losing one bit of her usual cheerfulness.

Although, not known to the cheery sister of the Scarlet Devil, the two mages before her felt a bit sad, and kind of pitied her. Although their expression says 'Oh, that's good, Flandre-kun!', their heart says otherwise.

"Oi, Alice, Niji!" Came Marisa's yell from the other side of he shrine. "C'Mere!" She waved her hand.

Alice waved back at the witch. "Alright, then, Niji, Flandre-kun, let's go." She quipped herself.

Niji however, kept his feet rooted down to the ground. "Actually, Alice, you go on, ahead." He replied. "I want to talk to Flandre-kun just for a moment." He spoke with utter seriousness, Alice herself could even feel the sudden tense in his voice, although, Flandre was still oblivious to the situation, and instead, her scarlet eyes sparkled with childish curiosity.

The puppeteer nodded to him. "Alright then, I'll be at Marisa's if you need me." She walked away slowly.

After she's finally out of their hearing range, Niji exhaled, while Flandre kept her curious expression on her face. With a forced smile, he turned his face over to the shorter vampire girl. "Let's sit down, Flandre-kun."

* * *

"So, having fun?" Both of them sat quietly at the shrine's veranda, enjoying the simple spring breeze as well as taking in the view of the sakura trees scattered about. Niji himself felt uneasy.

The vampire girl nodded happily. "Uh-huh!" She answered with her usual cheery tone.

"That's... Good." He replied, a bit sadly this time, also closing his eyes. "Uhm... Flandre-kun... I don't want to pry into your personal business... But... I'm just curious about this... Why's that you can't leave the mansion freely?"

The smile faded Flandre had in her face faded into nothing and her eyes went blank. "..." The said vampire zipped her mouth shut. During the long silence, the swordsman could feel sudden feeling of guilt banging on his insides, so hard that he had to clutch his hands to his chest, as if having a cardiac arrest or something. Then, he could hear faint sobs coming from her.

Shooting his gradient colored eyes back open, the mage could see clear fluids streaming down from Flandre's scarlet eyes. "Flandre-kun?!" He asked suddenly, now with obvious concern planted on his tone of speech.

"It's not fair, Blue-Gray Onii-san..." She whimpered softly. "It's just not fair. Remi-onee-san gets to roam the skies freely, while I'm just stuck there on the basement of our home... I mean, she can fly around Gensokyo literally everyday, but... I'll only get my free time only once a month... And today is an exception. She's just not fair! Why's she have to be so bossy?! She gets all of the things I don't have! Why do I always have to be alone everytime?!" She continued to rant loudly, using her hands to cover her face.

Painful. It's like a dozen swords pierced through the blue haired magician's chest at the same time. He couldn't help but feel sad for her too. He pitied her. With his sudden brother-like attitude kicking in, he silently pulled her to an embrace.

"This so unfai- Eh?" The vampire was surprised by the swordsman's sudden action, but her tears continued to fly out of her eyes, and her cry grew louder that it turned into a bawl.

The swordsman silently rubbed her back in efforts to comfort her. "It's okay, Flandre-kun..." He whispered in a very soft and quiet manner. "Onii-san's here with you." He continued, eyes narrowed, and tone calm. "And if that's not enough, you still have Alice onee-san with you. Just don't... Don't you ever let yourself down just because you're feeling alone."

"So... I'm not alone?" She whimpered in a muffled voice.

"You'll never be alone, Flandre-kun. You'll never be alone. Even if we're apart, we're still present at your heart. All of us can't be truly alone." He reassured. "It's okay to be jealous of something that someone has while you don't. But, let me tell you something... You have something that everyone else doesn't have here at Gensokyo." He paused. "You have a good and innocent heart, Flandre-kun. It's what made you only you. It's a something that anyone else can't have nor take from you."

"What made... Me... Only me...?"

"That's right. That's something that even onii-san don't and can't have. So, just believe in yourself, because you're a gifted girl, Flandre-kun." His attempts to defuse the somewhat raging vampire appears to be successful, since her bawl seems to be quieting down just to a small cry with a few soft sobs. "And just remember what I said... You'll never be alone, so don't you ever let yourself down from that."

After the swordsman lets go of her, he could see the cheerful smile returning to her face. "Blue-Gray Onii-san...?" She asked.

"Yeah, Flandre-kun?"

Her smile turned wider, although she still seems to be in tears. "Thank you!" She exclaimed, her cheerfulness returned to her once again, much to his relieve.

The swordsman couldn't help but smile although faintly himself. "Good girl, now wipe that tears already!" He mock-ordered her, of course with a playful tone.

"I know, I know!" She puffed her cheeks, giving out a mock angry expression herself. Before going back silent again. "Umm, onii-san?"

A tilted head is earned. "What is it?"

"You don't mind if I make another wish, right?" She pointed at the offertory box of the Hakurei shrine.

"Of course not...! Here." Niji handed her some of his yens again, and the vampire jogged happily to the box, dragging him with her.

Waiting a few seconds, and Flandre finally made her wish. She skipped back to the swordsman's side with a very cheerful smile present on her face.

"So, what'd you wish for?" Niji asked, curious.

She suddenly went a little bit flustered, looking away from the swordsman, light pink tints also visible on her cheeks, she's also fiddling with her index finger. "I..." She began, being anxious and also hesitant about it. "I wish that I could spend more time with you, Niji onii-san!" She stated loudly, making a few heads turn to them, even Remilia herself was watching her younger sister's behavior. The said sister of the Scarlet Devil immediately looked away from him after that.

Niji himself went wide eyed. It's the first time that the vampire girl called him by his name. He sighed, a smile forming up on his lips as well. He knelt down to her, and used his right hand to pat her head. "Well, you don't have to make a wish about it, really. Cause you'll be getting one for sure." He replied. "In fact..." He trailed off, walking to the box himself.

A few more seconds passed and Niji completed his wish, he returned to his already waiting 'little sister'. He knew well that she's completely sane. She's not mad. She's just naive. She's completely sane, and no one's going to change that fact.

"What did you wish for, onii-san?" She questioned.

Niji only chuckled. "I also wished for the same thing, I also threw in an extra hundred yen, to make a second wish, I wished for your wish to come true." He smiled at the vampire girl.

"Really?!" She yelled happily, giving out the widest smile Niji has ever seen on her yet, even those fangs doesn't make him scared even a bit.

The swordsman nodded. "C'Mere, you." He held his hands open, welcoming the vampire back to his brotherly hug again. He himself was also smiling openly this time. Letting her go a few seconds later. "Seriously, though, you didn't have to wish about it. Cause you're going to get it anyway."

"Promise?"

"Pinky promise." He held his right hand's pinky finger for her to return it as well, locking their smallest finger together, they smiled brightly at each other.

Unbeknownst to them, almost everyone present at the shrine was watching, Remilia chuckled knowingly, Alice herself was smiling widely, while Marisa, of course doesn't really sway away from her usual confident grin. Reimu was watching from the inside of her shrine. Sure she was surprised that someone actually donated to her shrine, but she wasn't really expecting that to happen before her. An amused smug face is seen on the miko.

"What did you do this time, Niji?" The puppeteer muttered playfully, of course with the smile present on her face as well.

* * *

Of course, time passed, and it's now entering dusk, Niji had guided Flandre back to her sister, and wandered around elsewhere around the shrine, looking anything that could catch his eyes. Sadly, he got the news from Reimu that Futo, the residents of the mausoleum and the Myouren temple as well as the residents of Eintei couldn't make it there. Of course, Futo would be busy working on the relief efforts, and the guys over at Eintei would still need to take care of the wounded present there.

More time passed, and since his name's pretty much known by everyone present throughout the shrine, here's a summary of what happened...

* * *

"Niji-san! I want you to meet a friend of mine! She's a White Wolf Tengu, and she also wields a sword, so I think pretty much you should meet her in person." That came from Aya, introducing her fellow Tengu, although by a different species, **Momiji Inubashiri**.

In the swordsman's opinion she's pretty kind, although, she could get rough around the edges, especially when Aya pushed her a little bit too far. That HUGE scimitar on her back, it's obviously not just for show. He wondered how can she balance herself between that shield and that curved sword. Color him impressed, and the two seems to be getting on friendly terms just by their first meeting.

Aya gave a short note by whispering to him that Momiji would usually wag her tail when she's happy or excited. Well, that was unnecessary, but her tail could be seen swaying to the left and right during the time she was talking to him. As expected from the two sword masters, they would trade conversations about their swordplay. But, there's something else about the White Wolf Tengu.

"Oh, right, Niji-san. Do you happen to play some Dai-Shogi?" Momiji showed him a board meant for Dai-Shogis.

Niji shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. I don't know how. I assume it's like the western sport, which is Chess, am I right?" He asked.

"Well, you're both right and wrong at that." She chuckled. "The Dai-Shogi features a larger set of board as well as pieces for its players." She explained.

Aya just sighed. "You're not REALLY not going to challenge him for a game of that, right? Everyone at the Tengu Village knows that you're the undefeated champion. The only one who can only go in par on your level is that Kappa."

"You mean Nitori? Now that you mention it, where is she?" Momiji spun her head around.

Of course, thanks to his power of color manipulation, he could disable the Kappa's stealth module, oh, how did he did that? He manipulated the color back to normal, and how did he spot her? Paranoia.

Once again, color the swordsman impressed. "Nice tech you got there... Lemme guess... Optic Camouflage?" Which also reminds him on a western modern game called... 'Halo', was it?

"E-eh?!" She exclaimed in surprise.

Meet **Nitori Kawashiro**, the Kappa that hails from the Youkai Mountain. She's very... VERY shy at first and seemed reluctant to even try to talk to him. Understandable, since the swordsman literally blown her only cover. But after seeing the amount of tech and electricity present on his gun-blades and the mechanism over his shoulder, slowly but surely, she's beginning to open herself up to him.

Niji viewed her as a curious little girl. Well, Kappas are always known for their technological advances on most of the things, explaining Nitori and her optic camo. Niji began to explain his own technologically advanced weapons, of course, it would take her a while to get it, but finally, she understood both of the gun-blades' mechanics as well as the Danmaku Support Module present over his left shoulder. And finally what caused them to finally become friendly towards each other was solely thanks to Momiji, which has been convincing her Kappa friend that Niji's friendly.

Fortunately it worked, and guess what? In the end, the mage even received two energy cells from Nitori that could extend both of his gun-blades' life. And of course, he himself took an interest into the Dai-Shogi. Sure, he was blind all over, but he's willing to learn. He watched how Momiji and Nitori dueled against each other over the board of the traditional Japanese chess.

And finally, Niji himself would try his luck and play it first hand. And... To say it the least humiliating way, he was annihilated in less than three turns by the two of them. But he didn't pay it any mind, cause he sure had a great time with them.

* * *

"Oh, you must be the swordsman who managed to save the residents of the Great Mausoleum...~" Came a cheery, mature, yet at the same time, a bit sloppy and childish voice into the ears of the mage. "I've heard of you from Yukari..." And that is how Niji met the seemingly eternal young princess of the afterlife, **Yuyuko Saigyouji**.

On his part, Niji would say that Yuyuko is a wise young woman, considering how she's lived her... afterlife like that, she's carefree, easy going, friendly and cheery, making a good partner to chat with. Although she could still get pretty naive on some parts of their conversation, she's certainly a great one to add on the books. Oh and did he mention that Yuyuko is a good friend to Yukari? Obviously, Niji had a great deal of respect to her.

But something that's pretty weird about her is her one and only appetite. She literally swallowed all of those dumplings in one go, and STILL feel hungry, how does she keep her body in shape, we don't know... We'll probably never know...

"And, I think you should meet my gardener, seeing how both of you are pretty similar in some ways... Oh, Youmu...~" She called, and his eyes met someone that's actually similar to him in some ways, just like what the pink haired princess said just now.

For a swordswoman to appear in front of him just now... There's **Youmu Konpaku**, the gardener, servant, as well as the sword instructor for Yuyuko. She's a serious one, kind of stoic, but at the same expressive when she knew that he's also a swordsman. She carries a pair of Katanas and there's this friendly ghost, Casper... Uhm, I mean, **Myon**. She's a half phantom, so that would explain everything.

Although both of them are swordplayers, they're still only simply acquainted, due to Youmu's way too serious personality even on little things. And of course, Yuyuko, being way too carefree about it, decided to leave them be and only giggled at the sight.

* * *

"Oh, you're shorter than I thought..." And then, **Kanako Yasaka** had to get his attention. "I expected you to be a little bit taller... But..." She chuckled whilst shrugging her shoulders.

He met the residents of the Moriya Shrine shortly after. Well, to start about Kanako, Niji would consider her as a carefree woman. Which is pretty weird considering she's the deity of the Shrine. She had this quote-unquote 'friendly' personality. This made the swordsman to be both easily and uneasily enter a conversation with her. Oh and good lord! Look at that mirror as well as that twisted rope on her back!

"Oh, you must be the person that everyone's been talking about!" Came a more curious voice behind the mage's back, causing him to turn around in surprise, his gradient colored eyes fell upon a young looking girl, which is the Goddess of Curse, and the leader of Mishaguji herself, **Suwako Moriya**. "Wow, I expect you to be a little bit more taller." Well, look who's talking... You're not very tall yourself...

Compared to Kanako, Suwako is much more friendly and open-hearted. She's also cheery and a bit carefree, which is once again, ironic for a Goddess, especially a Goddess of Curse. But all things aside, Niji and Suwako seems to be getting along pretty well, considering her much more lighter personality.

"Oh, Suwako-sama, who're you talking to?" And then, one other voice had to came from behind him, once again, Niji turned his head around, this time, seeing an eyeful of green hair, so, there IS another shrine maiden present over here at Gensokyo. "Oh, you must be Niji! I've heard you from Reimu over there." And **Sanae Kochiya**, the wind priestess came to our image.

Unlike Reimu, which is rather lazy for Niji's taste, Sanae is one upbeat and friendly shrine maiden. As the miko of the Moriya Shrine, she also takes her job as their only shrine maiden very seriously. She's very friendly towards the swordsman, and both of them immediately got along with each other, seeing that conversations would easily erupt between the two. And you should've taken a peek of Niji's priceless face when he heard that Sanae originally came from the Outside World.

* * *

Then... Finally, he arrived at the place he would feel warm the most, with the magicians. Alice, Marisa and Reimu was chattering about something when he arrived but he paid it little to no mind. He sat quietly at the shrine's veranda, looking at the now almost darkened skies. The cool wind still blows, and the beautiful image of the sakura's falling petals came into everyone's eyes.

More time would past over trivial and light conversations, and without everyone noticing, night has finally fallen upon the land of fantasies. After saying their goodbyes, everyone left the littered shrine grounds. What a mess that is. Reimu's going to experience one hell of a night.

"Looks like we'll be taking our leave soon." Alice waved lowly to the Hakurei's miko.

Reimu herself looked a bit tired of all of the things that happened today. "Huh? Oh yeah, sure. See you guys later." She said a bit warily.

The mages would about to take their flight back home, but Niji had to talk about this before they went home.

"Hey, Alice." He spoke a bit quietly, okay maybe a bit too quiet for the puppeteer's taste.

"Yes?" She tilted her head. "Is something wrong?"

The swordsman looked away. "Well, I just want to talk to you about something." He began a bit hesitantly. "I know that this is all too sudden... And it's only been a few weeks, but... I just wanted to let you know that..." He went a little bit flustered, which is uncommon. "... I'm grateful for what've you done to me ever since we met." He blurted, a bit embarrassed. "So... I just wanted... to you know, be your friend, or something?"

The puppeteer looks visibly surprised with her blue eyes widened by a bit. But shook her head dismissively. "What are you talking about, Niji?" She giggled. "Of course, I've always viewed you as a friend of mine. A good friend, in fact. So everything's good, and you don't... Have to... thank me about that. You've also done a lot to me." She replied, also somewhat flustered.

"Really?" The blue haired mage raised his head again so their gazes could finally meet.

"Really." Alice answered firmly, smiling at him. "So... Friends?" She offered her hand.

Niji smiled back at her. "Yeah... Friends." He gladly took it.

And with that, the two finally took off to fly... Back to their home.

* * *

**End of Chapter Eleven**

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Chapter Ten! Woof, this is the longest chapter I've ever written so far! Breaking the 8000 word limit just for one chapter. That's a record. And of course, happy new year! It's pretty weird on how I updated this pretty fast, huh? Lol.

So... Hanami, means meeting Gensokyo's population, and of course, I wouldn't forget about Niji's promise to the little Scarlet Devil, Flandre. Of course, I do understand how she felt, I mean, being kept locked on the basement for 495 years straight isn't really a comforting thought. Tasting freedom for only a few hours once a month is also not comforting if you ask me. So... I hope that you're not mad at me making Niji a brother figure to her.

And of course, by I mean the western religion, I mean, the Christian Religion, I hope you don't mind that, and I'm sorry if I made any mistakes on the offering procedure, since I'm not really familiar with the Shinto-Buddhist's traditions myself.

And a cameo of my favorite video game series! Halo, made by Bungie, and now succeeded by 343 Industries. Copyright belongs to them! That amazing game...

Okay, I suppose I should close this chapter, eh? Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the story so far, Happy New Year, and of course... Traesto!


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